Supreme Court strikes down sports gambling ban, legalized sports betting coming soon - MLB

The United States Supreme Court today struck down a law that outlawed sports gambling in nearly every state. The ruling will result in legalized gambling all over the United States. You can read the decision here.

The law was known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA). Only Nevada — which had legal sports gambling before its passage and was grandfathered in — was exempt. The State of New Jersey wanted to legalize sports gambling too and challenged it as unconstitutional, bringing suit in 2009. The lawsuit claimed, among other things, that PASPA unconstitutionally discriminated among the states. While I have not read the Supreme Court’s decision on this yet, that claim is pretty facially compelling, as is the argument that regulation of gambling is a state matter pursuant to the Tenth Amendment. I’m not a big fan of gambling, and I rarely agree with the current court’s view of things, but PASPA always felt like Federal overreach to me. The decision is not surprising and, I suspect correct on the merits in an absolute sense.

What this means now: all states who want to offer legalized sports gambling to the public will pass laws allowing that to happen one way or another. As we’ve noted here several times in recent months, that effort has long been underway, complicated in part by a frankly ridiculous lobbying effort by the sports leagues, including Major League Baseball. While at first they opposed legalized sports betting, in the past year or so it has dawned on them that they can maybe make some money off of this, so they’ve been pressuring states to give them a cut of the action. As of yet no state has agreed to do so because, um, what possible basis does Rob Manfred and the other commissioners have to claim that cut? My discussion of that can be read here, here and here.

Obviously there is and long has been an illegal sports gambling industry, greatly facilitated by the Internet and offshore businesses running the book. That will no doubt continue, if for no other reason, than any state regulated gambling operation will involve hoops, regulations and costs that make black market options desirable. If you’re betting on 15 games a day, you probably already have plenty of options. For those who find themselves in casinos or race tracks from time to time, however, and simply want to place a bet here or there, you’ll soon be able to do so without traveling to Nevada.

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PITTSBURGH — Oneil Cruz slowly made his way on crutches across the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse on Saturday toward a locker replete with a massive walking boot that the towering shortstop still uses to protect the left ankle he broke during an awkward slide home in early April.

The days when he’ll need to rely on the crutches are numbered. Ditto for the walking boot. The 24-year-old’s recovery remains on track, meaning he could return sometime late this summer barring any setbacks.

Given the way Cruz’s left leg rolled up underneath him as he collided with Chicago White Sox catcher Seby Zavala in the sixth inning of what became a 1-0 victory, Cruz will take it. He had surgery the next day and the team optimistically said it expected him to miss four months, a timeline it has not deviated from as his rehab reaches the halfway point.

“You never want to get hurt, obviously, but that’s part of the game and it happens to me,” Cruz said through a translator. “I’m just going to take it the way it is and get better as soon as possible.”

The Pirates have found a way to remain in contention in the NL Central even without their leadoff hitter and one of the more physically intriguing young players in the majors, one prone to testing the limits of StatCast. Pittsburgh entered play on Saturday at 29-27, a half-game back of Milwaukee for first place in a division where no one has been able to run away and hide.

The club has used a handful of players at short to fill in for Cruz, from Rodolfo Castro to Tucupita Marcano to Ji Hwan Bae to Chris Owings. None of them possess Cruz’s unique mix of size, power and speed. Yet they’ve been solid enough to help soften what could have been a devastating early blow to a club that is trying to climb back into relevance following consecutive 100-loss seasons.

Cruz has leaned on his wife and his children to help ease the mental sting of the first major injury of his still-young career. Watching longtime teammates Castro and Marcano – who came up through the minors with Cruz – have some level of success has helped. The duo is hitting a combined .264 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs.

“Every time I see them doing well, it makes me happy,” Cruz said.

Still, they understand they are placeholders for Cruz, who was poised to take a significant step forward following a tantalizing rookie season in which both highlights that quickly went viral on social media – and strikeouts – were plentiful. He worked seven walks in his nine games of the season, showing the kind of patience at the plate that was difficult to come by in 2022.

Cruz believes he is poised to come back stronger than he was when he went down, and the Pirates have been adamant that the hope is he returns this season no matter where the team is in the standings whenever he comes off the 60-day injured list.

While he’s eager to get back he’s also not trying to force things, saying several times he will stick to the recommendations of the medical staff. He has remained engaged, not missing a game of Pittsburgh’s somewhat uneven – the Pirates started on a 20-8 tear followed by an 8-18 skid through May – but overall promising start.

There are also no concerns – at least at this point – about any sort of lingering memories of the slide that derailed his season haunting him during his rehab.

“I should be good when I get out there because when I go out there I understand I’m not going to hesitate,” Cruz said. “I’m just going to go out there and do my best.”

Cruz’s appearance at PNC on Saturday coincided with the team giving out thousands of bobbleheads in his likeness.

Asked if the trinkets bear at least a passing resemblance to him, Cruz laughed.

“They did real good,” he joked. “Ugly, like me.”