A lone congressional wolf hopes to drag Congress into legislating the sports betting industry. And he thinks recent publicized scandals may help his cause.
New York Rep. Paul Tonko announced the SAFE Bet Act on March 19 to coincide with the fervor of March Madness, an annual hot spot for online gambling. The next day, international baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani became embroiled in a strange and twisting gambling investigation. Soon after, NBA player Jontay Porter exited his game early with a supposed illness and is now being investigated for betting irregularities centered on his performance.
The publicized controversies shone a spotlight on the dark side of sports betting. Congress has largely ignored the industry’s existence since 2018, sitting on its legislative hands after the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA. The ruling left sports betting to the states, and Capitol Hill was happy to leave it there. Tonko hopes to grab parts of it back.