supreme court sports betting arrests.

FILE - The Supreme Court in Washington, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

How a 2018 Supreme Court decision paved the way for meteoric growth in legal sports betting

A 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates to the legalized sports-betting industry, now worth billions of dollars a year, even as it recognized that the decision was controversial. That high-court ruling is back in the spotlight after the arrests on Thursday of more than 30 people, including an NBA player and coach, in two cases alleging sprawling criminal schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families. The court’s ruling struck down a 1992 federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, that had barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states.

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