THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO PARTIES

What has made gambling, and in particular sports betting, the one issue that has garnered bipartisan support?

Over the last several years we have witnessed an increasing political divide in the United States. We have seen two highly polarized presidential elections in the last eight years. Both sides of the aisle have taken a hard line on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, immigration, government spending and on many other topics, lending almost no weight to bipartisan camaraderie when dealing with these important issues. However, our nation’s two major parties have come together in recent years in an unexpected way.

To date, more than 35 states have embraced regulated sports betting since the US Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in May 2018, also known as the Bradley Act. Red and blue states alike eagerly embraced opening a regulated sports betting market within months of the ruling, an interesting phenomenon during a time when the nation has been so visibly split along political lines.

But perhaps this trend is not as surprising as people might think. Could it be that our two major parties have agreed more often than not on the subject of nationwide sports betting?

To answer that question, let’s take a brief journey back in time to the early 1990s when the Federal Government ruled in favor of a nationwide sports betting ban. During this time, many lawmakers held a different view on sports betting, with several concerned that allowing nationwide wagers could be potentially harmful. The rising opposition to sports betting led to multiple public hearings in June 1991, headed by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks.

These hearings involved testimonies from members of several sports organizations. The NBA’s Commissioner at the time, David Stern, told the committee, “The interstate ramifications of sports betting are a compelling reason for federal legislation.” The subcommittee agreed with Stern’s viewpoint and said that sports betting on a federal level “is a national problem.” The group went on to add that, “The harms it inflicts are felt beyond the borders of those States that sanction it.”

Arizona Senator Dennis DeConcini first introduced a bill proposing a nationwide sports betting ban to the US Senate in February 1991. By the summer of 1992,