Bipartisan sports gambling legislation will seek federal regulation

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced Wednesday that they will introduce a bill to regulate sports betting across the nation, The Associated Press reports.

The Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's May overturning of a 1992 law that prevented states from legalizing sports gambling. Following that decision — which created the specter of a nationwide patchwork of betting laws — "I knew that Congress had an obligation to ensure that the integrity of the games we love was never compromised," Schumer told AP. "The time is now to establish a strong national integrity standard for sports betting that will protect consumers and the games themselves from corruption."

The legislation will, among other things, prevent sports leagues from taking a cut of the estimated $150 billion in newly legal gambling revenue, allow betting on the Olympics and college sports, and create a "self-exclusion list" for problem gamblers. The bill's opponents will likely include the casino industry, which prefers state regulation, the major sports leagues, who want a piece of the action, and your bookie, who you still owe $125 for last Sunday's Browns-Broncos game.

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