where a person could legally wager on the games. Sports fans flocked to the only state in the U.S. Gaming leaders long saw legal sports betting as a way to connect Las Vegas to major events, such as the Super Bowl, college football bowl games and March Madness, as well as the NFL’s regular season. Then-NBA Commissioner David Stern told Congress during hearings in 1991, “The interstate ramifications of sports betting are a compelling reason for federal legislation.” Bill Bradley (D-NJ), a former NBA player. PASPA was also called the Bradley Act because it was backed by then-U.S. The highly anticipated decision deemed the 25-year-old Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) as unconstitutional and ended Nevada’s sports betting monopoly.Ĭongress passed the law in 1992 as an effort to define the legal status of sports betting. Unlike some of his counterparts, Kornegay didn’t fret.īy a 7-2 vote, the justices ruled states had the right to regulate their own gaming businesses. Jay Kornegay vividly recalls the Monday morning on May 14, 2018, when the trajectory of Nevada’s sports betting industry was changed by the U.S.

International sports betting market