Bill would ban sports betting ads during games and forbid bets on college athletes
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — The federal government would ban in-game advertising and betting on college athletes under a sports betting regulation bill introduced by two Northeastern lawmakers.
Rep. Paul Tonko of New York and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut introduced the bill Thursday, aimed at addressing what they say are the damaging effects of the rapid expansion of legal sports betting in the U.S. since 2018.
The measure also bans the use of credit cards to fund online gambling accounts.
Democratic lawmakers say sports betting, now legal in 38 states plus the District of Columbia, has exacerbated gambling addiction and other problems. Every moment of every game is a chance to gamble, Tonko said.
“This has led to a frightening rise in gambling addiction, which in turn has taken a terrible toll on people, many of whom have lost their homes, jobs, marriages and their lives,” Tonko said.
Blumenthal called the measure a matter of public health.
“It’s about ending addiction, saving lives and making sure young people in particular are protected from exploitation,” Blumenthal said.
The legislation has already faced fierce opposition from the gambling industry, which has said for years that it should regulate sports betting advertising itself so that the federal government does not impose standards.
According to the American Gaming Association, the national trade association for the gambling industry, sportsbooks already operate under government oversight, contribute billions of dollars in state taxes and provide consumer protections not available to illegal gambling operators.
“Six years after the legalization of sports betting, the introduction of onerous federal bans is a slap in the face to state legislatures and gaming regulators, who have invested countless time and resources into developing thoughtful frameworks unique to their jurisdictions,” it said in a statement.
The industry has adopted sports betting practices that include some restrictions on advertising, but critics say they do not go far enough.
Harry Levant, director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, compared gambling to drugs and alcohol in terms of its potential addictiveness.
“With any other addictive product or substance, the government regulates the advertising, promotion, distribution and consumption of the product,” he said. “With gambling, unfortunately, the exact opposite happens.”
The National Council on Problem Gambling says “gambling problems may increase as sports gambling explodes” in America.
The bill would prohibit operators from accepting more than five deposits from a customer in a 24-hour period. It would also impose checks on whether a customer is able to deposit more than $1,000 in a 24-hour period or $10,000 in a month.
The bill would also ban “prop” bets on the performance of college or amateur athletes, such as how many passing yards a quarterback will accumulate during a game.
And it would ban the use of artificial intelligence to track a customer’s gambling habits or to create gambling products, including highly specific “micro-bets,” which are based on scenarios as specific as the speed of the next pitch in a baseball game.
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