“May you live in interesting times.”
— an old Chinese curse
Sports meets politics, politics meets law, law meets sports. It’s an all-American story. Which is why it made the front pages for several days this week. Americans love their politics and sports, and can learn to love the law when it mixes with the other two.
As you’ve surely heard by now, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a federal law that banned sports gambling in the several states. (Objection!) Allow us to rephrase: The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a federal law that banned legal sports gambling in the several states. For every community, no matter how big or how small, has its bookies. And has since the forward pass was invented.
The case before the supremes came out of New Jersey, of course, but experts tell the papers that the decision opens the door for legal sports gambling in the other 49 states. A fair estimate is that Americans spend the better part of $150 billion each year on illegal sports gambling, and states obviously want in on the action.
The old law, which is no longer in effect thanks to the ruling, was called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. It prohibited states from authorizing sports gambling, with an exception for Nevada, of course. The supremes ruled that Congress didn’t have the authority to tell the states what to do in this case.
The ruling, we agree with. There is something to this federalism that our founding fathers passed down to their heirs.
The effect, however . . . .
Arkansas now has a choice to make, as do the other states in our Union, indivisible. Do we do something just because we can? Or do we tip-toe quietly by, knowing the pitfalls that come with sports gambling?
Arkansas has plenty of legal gambling already, what with horse racing and dog racing and the lottery. And every year those gambling operations seem to expand. Can we buy scratch-off tickets with debit cards yet? How many games are available at Oaklawn between horse races?
Gambling results in a lot more grief than joy for individuals and society. So the less of it the better.
Some would argue the opposite, and note that the state might make a mint. Those people also want to legalize casinos in this state, even though anybody with an automobile can cross one of two rivers to get to a casino in a few hours at most.
Some would also argue that logic suggests legal sports gambling would drive out illegal sports gambling, not to mention the shady sorts who hover over the losers. But we remember a justice of some note, Oliver Wendell Holmes, who once said, “A page of history is worth a volume of logic.” Has legal sports gambling pushed the mob out of Las Vegas?
Look around. We don’t want to be Nevada or New Jersey.
We enjoy being Arkansas. Let’s take a pass on the interesting times other states are sure to explore. One day we might applaud that decision.