Congress May Prefer Federal Sports Betting Regulation

Several members of the House Judiciary Committee suggested Thursday that they would support new federal sports betting regulation, though the specifics remained murky.

Four months after the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling paving the way for legal sports betting nationwide, Congress held its first hearing on the matter. Over 90 minutes, members of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations pressed a group of witnesses about various potential legal safeguards in the wake of the Supreme Court sports betting decision to overturn a decades-old federal law that limited most sports gambling to Nevada.

The day’s biggest question: Who should safeguard the games, while also looking out for athletes and bettors?

“I think the one thing that all would agree on is that for Congress to do nothing is the worst possible alternative,” said Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), the subcommittee’s chairman. “So this means we have some work to do … because I’m afraid if we don’t, there are some people who will get hurt, and hurt very badly.”

Read more about possible federal sports betting regulation on the Washington Post.