On Monday, May 14, the Supreme court finalized the decision to allow states to legalize sports gambling if they so choose. This decision was a tremendous change from the law passed in 1992, stating that one can not gamble on different sporting events. This previous law caused many to become upset because it went against the constitutional right for states to have control of their policies.

NJ is the main state that was in favor of this new bill passing, due to many different reasons. One reason that the legalization sports betting is prefered is because of the positive effect that it has on the economy. If a certain state decides to legalize sports betting, it can result in more tourism to that particular area, essentially boosting their local economy. Another positive aspect of this issue is that gamblers will now be able to safely gamble on sporting events, rather than waging money on unreliable websites, illegally.

This new regulation does not solely benefit the gamblers, but TV providers as well. With the legalization of sports betting, one will be more inclined to sit down and watch a sports game because there will be money involved. This new interest will cause more civilians to pay extra to their television provider in order to have access to the most high definition and up-to-date channels.

Although this decision may seem like the positives outweigh the negatives by a large margin, that is not the case. The allowance of sports betting can drift the viewers away from the sport, causing them to focus solely on the money, which is a fear that those around the nation are having.

“I almost don’t know what to think,” said Nick Saban, the head football coach at the University of Alabama. “I’m not opposed to people making wagers on events, sporting events, but I guess the thing that worries you the most is, how could it or would it affect the integrity of the game? That’s always a concern.”

The withdrawal of the federal law that prohibited sports, betting may seem like it will have an immediate effect on the sports world, but it will take many states quite some time to figure out the logistics of this new law, so no one has to worry about it anytime soon.