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Esports Betting Now Possible in US in New Supreme Court Ruling

In a new Supreme Court ruling the federal ban on sports betting has been deemed unconstitutional, thus opening the door for official esports betting to become a reality in the United States.
Sports gambling is a wildly lucrative industry, even without previous legality in states across the nation. According to Statista, the global gross gambling yield amounts to more than $400 billion every year. The online gambling market was worth more than $40 billion in the US by 2016. And esports gambling in particular is a growing portion of those bets, with a $325 million yield in 2016 that's projected to grow to $1.4 billion by 2020.

Today's 6-3 decision to eliminate the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) for violation of the 10th Amendment, which states that the federal government cannot enforce laws that would compel states to carry out federal dictates, has been a battle long brewing.

“The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority. “Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each state is free to act on its own.”

Needless to say, the gambling industry is ecstatic at the news as some states have been preparing for legal sports betting for some time now.

"11 states have introduced sports betting legislation. Four states have already legalized sports betting," leading gambling lawyer Jeff Ifrah told Unikrn News. "There are more on the way. And now this — New Jersey has started accepting sports betting operator license applications. This isn't only happening because states want more tax revenue, it's also because happening there is customer demand for it and because sports leagues want to improve fan engagement."

Ifrah is bullish on the effect this will have on esports and esports leagues, and especially for esportsbooks, such as Unikrn, that are in a position to engage immediately:


While the Supreme Court didn't mentioned esports specifically in their ruling, esports has been authorized for betting by Sportsbook before. Should individual states recognize traditional sports betting, the leap to esports is only a matter of time.

"When Karl and I started Unikrn in 2014 we made a decision to go down the path of regulated esports betting because we believe the future of this space is massive," says Unikrn CEO and founder Rahul Sood. "We fully expected the federal laws to change — and for the past few years we have built a technical moat around Unikrn. We are light-years ahead of the competition and we will enable esports betting across the US in the future!"

And thanks to the United States Supreme Court ruling today, that future could very well be tomorrow.