US Senator Promises to Introduce Federal Sports Betting Regulations Before Retirement

A US Senator has promised to bring forward proposals for Federal sports betting regulations before he steps down at the end of this, his final term.

Senator Orrin Hatch, the longest serving Senator in the House, intends to step down at the end of this term, concluding a 42-year run as a Senator.

The Republican from Utah was originally one of the architects of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which was effectively responsible for the sports betting prohibition.

In a speech on the Senate floor delivered this week, Hatch vowed to bring forward proposals to end what he called a “race to the bottom” in terms of legislation, since the Supreme Court ruling in May.

He said that moving forward, the US would require “a set of fundamental, federal standards that will protect the integrity of the games, that will protect consumers and the sports wagering market.”

He noted that since the Supreme Court ruling, there had been little time devoted to discussion on the matter, which he said was “conspicuously absent” from the agenda.

A hearing which had been scheduled by the House of Representatives judiciary committee was postponed without further information, marking the only Congressional brush with the issue since the Supreme Court struck down the prohibition earlier this year.

Hatch spoke about the state-level betting legislation that have sprung up since, singling out West Virginia as being particularly ill-equipped to ensure the integrity of games operated in its jurisdiction.

His vow to bring proposals for Federal level oversight are the second time Hatch has promised to put the situation right as he sees it. After PASPA was found to be unconstitutional because of its top-down structure, deemed an incursion on the rights of individual state legislatures, it remains uncertain whether further, similar attempts at regulation would carry favour.

Hatch is also facing significant time pressures to get his bill off the ground, with the upcoming break for the midterm elections and only a final session before November when he bows out of Congressional politics.

Some have suggested this might even prove fatal to any attempts at a bill, with no fallout in the next session for failing to get behind the plans. While Hatch has certainly talked a good game, most commentators now believe he’s unlikely to get the change he seeks.

The American Gaming Association took a hardline in response through a statement issued on Friday, where it said individual states should “decide what works best for their constituents.” Brandishing “federal oversight of sports betting…an abject failure”, they said the current framework was allowing states to establish the most suitable gambling regulations for their own interests.

Whether or not Hatch gets his bill off the ground in time, he will need support that many feel he’s unlikely to get. With gaming operators not necessarily too keen on the idea of more heavy-handed Federal intervention, it looks from some perspectives as if these proposals might be dead on arrival.

However, they underline the ongoing battle in the US to find the optimum model for a regulated gambling industry across participating states. To the observer, it feels like state-level measures remain the only feasible way of enacting responsible, reflexive legislation, and Federal regulation certainly lacks some credibility.

Either way, the evolution of the dialogue towards delivering the best regulated markets, versus prohibition, can be seen as a good thing for the American gambling industries.