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Abstract

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”) was a Federal statute enacted in 1992 that effectively outlawed sports gambling in the United States, with the exception of states such as Nevada, Delaware, and Oregon. In 2011, the State of New Jersey amended its state constitution and enacted a law that would authorize ‘certain regulated sports wagering at New Jersey casinos and racetracks’ while also implementing ‘a comprehensive regulatory scheme for licensing casinos and sporting events.’ Five professional sports leagues brought suit against New Jersey under PASPA, and New Jersey challenged PASPA’s constitutionality based on the anti-commandeering doctrine. Over the next few years, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals all ruled in favor of the leagues. The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in June 2017 and heard the case the following December. On May 14, 2018, in an opinion delivered by Justice Alito, the Supreme Court held that PASPA was unconstitutional. Consequently, the federal, state, and tribal legal framework for gambling has been drastically altered. State laws, state-tribal gaming compacts, and tribal gaming ordinances will now require redrafting and/or amendment if either government seeks to capitalize on this change. Regulations and inter-governmental agreements will require renegotiation, and the implications of the invalidation of a federal statute will begin to take form. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of PASPA’s invalidation on tribal gaming (used interchangeable with ‘Indian gaming’ throughout this paper) as it pertains to legal, regulatory, and intergovernmental relations.

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