Skip to main content
The U.S. Supreme Court today struck down a federal law that had the effect of restricting sports betting in most states.
In 1989, the Oregon Lottery began offering a game called Sports Action, that allowed lottery customers to bet on National Football League games.
Then in 1992, Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which barred gambling on professional and college sports except in states where sports betting was already legal, such as Nevada.
Because it was already offering Sports Action, Oregon was also grandfathered in and continued to offer sports betting until 2005, when the Legislature, acting in response to concerns from the NCAA and the NFL, outlawed sports betting in Oregon via House Bill 3466. (The law went into effect in 2007.)
New Jersey, home to struggling Atlantic City casinos, sued to overturn the federal ban and emerged victorious in today's decision, which will affect an illegal betting market experts say could be as large as $150 billion per year nationally.
Matt Shelby, a spokesman for the Oregon Lottery, says today's court decision could cause the return of sports betting here.
"The recent Supreme Court decision certainly affects the national conversation on sports betting," Shelby said in a statement. "The Lottery remains interested in offering some version of sports-based play in the future and will continue engaging with stakeholders to identify what makes sense here in Oregon."
"Expanding our offerings to include sports-based play has the potential to attract new players – allowing Lottery to raise additional revenue for state and local programs without asking current players to play or wager more."