PASPA and the Supreme Court Decision That Legalized US Sports Betting

How PASPA Worked

Under PASPA, if you lived in New Jersey or California or any state except Nevada, you could not place a legal sports bet. You could travel to Nevada. You could bet with illegal bookmakers. But you could not bet legally in your home state.

The losers were states that wanted to tax sports betting. New Jersey had casinos. They wanted sports betting at those casinos. They wanted the tax revenue. PASPA said no.

The winners were Nevada sportsbooks, which had exclusive access to the US market.

The Legal Challenge

New Jersey challenged PASPA in court. They argued that the law violated the Tenth Amendment (states' rights) and the Dormant Commerce Clause. The case went through the lower courts. New Jersey lost repeatedly.

Then the case reached the Supreme Court. Murphy v. NCAA. The case was argued in December 2017.

The Decision (May 2018)

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that PASPA was unconstitutional. The majority opinion, written by Justice Alito, said that PASPA essentially commanded states not to regulate sports betting. That violated the anti-commandeering doctrine: Congress cannot tell states what they must do.

Nevada could have sports betting. That did not mean New Jersey could not. The decision was narrow: PASPA violated the Constitution. It did not say sports betting must be legal nationwide. It said states had the right to legalize it if they chose.

The Aftermath

Within weeks, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mississippi legalized sports betting. Within a year, fifteen states had legal sportsbooks. Now, in 2026, roughly thirty-five states allow some form of sports betting.

The tax revenue has been real. New Jersey alone has collected over two billion pounds in sports betting tax revenue since 2018. That money funds education, infrastructure, addiction treatment.

The Dark Side

The explosion of legal sports betting has coincided with an explosion in sports betting marketing. Every sports broadcast has sportsbook ads. Mobile apps make betting frictionless. Professional athletes take sponsorship money from sportsbooks. The normalization has been complete and rapid.

Problem gambling rates have increased. The Gambling Commission and addiction researchers attribute part of this to the accessibility of legal sports betting. Younger people can now bet legally. The barrier to entry has disappeared.

The Regulatory Mess

Each state regulates sports betting differently. Some require in-person registration. Some allow online betting. Some have low sports betting taxes. Some have high taxes. The regulatory patchwork is complicated.

Federal oversight is minimal. The Supreme Court decision did not create a national regulator. It just said states could legalize. States did. Each with their own rules.

The Honesty

PASPA was always about money. Congress wanted Vegas to have a monopoly. The Supreme Court said that violated constitutional principles. Once the court removed the federal obstacle, states rushed in because sports betting is profitable for governments.

The consequence is that Americans now live in a world where sports betting is ubiquitous, normalized, and entirely legal. That has benefits (tax revenue, consumer choice, reduced illegal betting). It also has costs (increased problem gambling, marketing to young people, social effects we do not yet understand).

PASPA was one law. The Murphy decision was one judgment. But the effects ripple outward in ways that are still unfolding.