Gambling is as woven into the fabric of American life and history as stars and stripes are woven into the pattern of an American flag.
From the neighborhood poker game to state lotteries to office March Madness pools to giant casino complexes, from fully legal to completely unsanctioned, gambling is everywhere and most of us participate.
So it might seem there’s little room to ratchet up even further the pervasiveness of gambling as entertainment, as an industry and as a tool of public finance in this country.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
What’s coming is not a wave of more casino construction — while there are projects in development, including a handful in Washington, that segment of the gambling (sorry, “gaming”) industry looks to be nearing saturation. Nor is there interest in putting slot machines or similar devices in every bar, restaurant store and convenience store.
Instead, the jackpot everyone is dreaming of hitting will be found in sports betting.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a 1992 federal law that prevented all but a handful of states from allowing betting on sporting events and contests. Stripped of legalese, the court’s decision basically told Congress “butt out, this is none of your business.”
That is glorious news to states that, in their never-ending quest for more tax revenue, have long and longingly eyed the millions they knew Americans were wagering on sports, never mind the laws and rules forbidding such recreation.
They weren’t wrong to surmise Americans were spending sums just on sports betting that might be small individually but that amounted to millions, or more, in the aggregate.
True confession time: Your columnist, working years ago in a part of the country known for enthusiasm for both sports and gambling, used to pitch a quarter into the pool for the weekly pick-10-games card during football season. It was organized by teachers at the local high school.
That was long before the days when office copiers worked overtime to print basketball tournament brackets and the office-pool winner was likely someone who made selections according to school colors and nicknames. Participants in those low-stakes affairs might not have seen themselves as part of the sports-wagering complex, but government did, along with bookies, offshore betting services, legal Vegas sports books and the like, and dreamed of getting a slice of the action.
Now it can.
What’s fascinating about the decision is not so much the ruling itself. Given the general shift in societal attitudes toward what were once regarded as vices (hello, marijuana), the outcome seemed inevitable. When recently has some of the gambling toothpaste been shoved back into the tube?
The dramatic change has come in sports organizations’ attitudes, especially for the professional leagues. Where once they decried the idea of sanctioned gambling on their contests, out of professed fear for point shaving and tampering with outcomes, now they too are getting comfortable with the notion, especially if they too get a cut of the action.
The motivation behind that shift might be less a matter of its inevitability, or that the leagues were never going to stamp out gambling. They, like government, are always on the hunt for money. But the leagues are looking at forecasts for the once bounteous revenue streams from television and not liking what they’re seeing. Gambling could be the answer.
The huge question now is how legal sports betting is to be structured. The Supreme Court didn’t legalize sports betting; it merely said it’s up to the states to regulate.
A few states are poised to go. Oregon was one of the handful of states grandfathered in by the federal law, and has run sports-related contests through its lottery before. It’s already discussing new games.
Washington is well behind, and the Legislature isn’t due back in Olympia until January. Even that gap, though, might not provide enough time for all the negotiating that must be done.
What kind of betting, for example, would be allowed, and who would run it? The teams themselves? Would they outfit their stadiums and arenas with betting parlors — or make it possible to make a wager via wireless device from your seat? How about horse-racing tracks, which have long offered betting not only on their own contests but also on races at other venues?
Maybe we’ll have independent bookies. Or, since this region fancies itself a hub of the online world, the next big company will be a web-based sports-wagering operation. Then there are the Indian tribes and casinos — think they might want in? And how does the state get involved? How much of a cut does it take?
Gambling has a history of disappointment, and that goes for government entities and others counting on big rewards from sports wagering. The official, professionally run sports-betting venue will attract big bettors. Will the once-a-year office-pool participants make the switch, and will the system work if they don’t?
We’re about to spin the wheel to find out.
This story was originally published May 19, 2018 8:00 AM.