Proposed federal law targets gambling ads, in-game betting

More than six years after the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for legalized gambling, Congress is looking at dropping some logs in the river.

A bill recently proposed by two members of Congress would, if passed and signed into law, restrict gambling advertisements and eliminate live, in-game betting.

The article from David Purdum of ESPN.com characterizes the NFL (and NBA) as seeing “positives and negatives” in the law. Getting rid of live, in-game betting is surely regarded as a negative.

The law also would prohibit sports book ads from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and during live sports broadcasts. Likewise, it would end prop bets for college players.

The bill was proposed by a pair of Democratic legislators. Whether the bill makes its way through the legislative process depends on many things — starting with an election to be held in 46 days.

Even then, the same Constitutional principles that allowed all states to launch sports betting operations might keep Congress from putting restrictions on the bets that can be taken by the states.

While the NFL isn’t taking a pubic stance for now, it’s a safe bet that the league will oppose any attempt to eliminate in-game betting. That’s the holy grail for pro football, transforming every game into a mini-casino, injecting ongoing relevance into the contests even when the broader outcome has been decided.