Legalizing Sports Betting in the US

Intuitive_Edge · 08-30-09, 02:29 AM

good read.

Johnny 55 · 08-30-09, 07:20 AM

Appreciate this info, very informative.

bombCanada · 08-30-09, 08:34 AM

Be careful for what you wish

I too dislike the hoops US bettors jump through to move money to and from offshore books.

But keep in mind these real-life scenarios:

- New York sales tax officials taking pictures of cars with NY plates in the parking lots of NJ malls and then sending the cars' owners dunning notices for use taxes (ie sales taxes). Why? Buyers pay sales tax on clothing in NY but not in NJ. NY wants their 8.5% (or whatever it is). How do they know how much you spent (if anything at all) ?

- Massachusetts sales tax officials auditing *New Hampshire* based tire retailers and dunning them for sales taxes they should have collected from Massachusetts residents. The argument is that every car has a license plate so the retailers should have known better. The good news here is that the NH courts told MA officials to get bent (last I read).

I speculate that offshore betting will remain illegal, and the reasoning will be that states cannot force them to comply with reporting and withholding requirements. US bettors will be forced to wager onshore, onshore books will have to report, and the odds we receive will be worse than we do now because of the costs of compliance.

Or EVEN WORSE, some silly federal law gets passed where each state runs its own book, just like each state runs its own lottery. It'll turn into one giant parimutuel nightmare for funding all the do-good causes you can think of (and they're thinking of more all the time in my state). Barf.

Good luck to us all, and thanks for the pointer to the article.

PS: I recently met someone who just happens to be a US 3d circuit court of appeals judge, where the Delaware sports wagering case is being heard. He was asked if he was hearing that case, and apparently none of the judges wanted to touch the case with a 10 foot pole. Sure fire political loser he said.

jonmic · 08-30-09, 09:58 AM

Excellent article, I can't wait to see how things play out in Delaware, should be quite interesting.

pdx107 · 08-30-09, 10:29 AM

should be interesting in Delaware indeed, shame they dont still have Sports Action through the Oregon lottery.....

CashMoney · 08-30-09, 11:07 AM

Land of the free my ass.............

clonecat · 08-30-09, 11:18 AM

The person who wrote this article probably speaks for 80% of Americans. Too bad it is a select few who run the country.