Supreme Court rules sports gambling legal in New Jersey

[devilznj]

Lets see what our corrupt NJ politicians do with this new toy....

[Greg Ambrosius]

Lets see what our corrupt NJ politicians do with this new toy....

This is HUGE news for the sports industry and the fantasy sports industry as well. It was a 6-3 decision in favor of New Jersey and the outcome seemed inevitable once the Supreme Court took the case. Here's an early writeup:

http://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/23 ... s-gambling

PASPA was the only federal law that allowed the federal government to say something was legal in one state but not the 49 other states. Here was the Supreme Court's decision:

"Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own," the court wrote its opinion. "Our job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution. PASPA is not."

So now what happens? It's possible that New Jersey and other states will have legalized sports betting up and running within the year. The majority of the other states will have it up and running within the next 3-5 years. And if they are smart, the federal government will address legalized sports gambling and have a federal law in place.

It's also possible that the states that exempt fantasy sports will look at this and include pay-to-play fantasy sports into any sports betting law and allow their residents to play our games again. It will be up to those states to make those moves, but if they decide to get into legalized sports betting then adding fantasy sports is a no-brainer.

I think we'll also see the companies that work in the legalized sports betting areas want to reach the fantasy sports industry. A new wave of revenue and advertising could enter this space, especially in the pay-to-play space. We all saw what happened when MVPSportsbook wanted to reach our audience -- lots of free goodies and more. This is now going to be a very competitive marketplace for these companies and the fantasy sports audience is the ideal target audience.

Anyway, this is a HUGE development. Not only for New Jersey, but the entire country. This should be another wild ride. Hang on tight.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I believe that in the long run, this may not be good for the fantasy industry.
Let's say that more and more states begin legalizing sports betting and fantasy baseball is good to go in every state.
The same personalities that play fantasy baseball are the same personalities who will put down a few dollars on a sporting event.
Sports betting provides instant gratification or instant disappointment. Something that is missing from our year long game.
High stakes fantasy baseball has become a year-long process. Six months for drafting season, six months for in-season play.
Not near as much 'work' is needed for sports betting.

Many, many folks said the boon in the daily game would be beneficial to the season long game as well.
The result there was that the daily game came close to ending fantasy play altogether.
I do not consider the legalization of sports betting as a help for the fantasy industry.
The laws and taxes levied by politicians should be lifted and ease costs for the fantasy industry. That will be a short term victory and boon.
The number one problem for the fantasy industry, fixed.
Only to be replaced by a larger problem. The customer.
It is almost taken for granted that the fantasy industry will continue growth.
This changes things.
The building of a customer base for operators changes to merely maintaining a customer base and the probability of that base, growing smaller.
The good news of fees lifted soon will turn into a battle for each customers spendable income.
In effect, sports betting becomes a rival of the fantasy industry.

I hope I am wrong.