Support for legalized sports gambling is slowly but surely growing throughout the United States with eight states having voted legislation into law since a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.
Prior to the government shutdown last week, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced legislation on Wednesday that laid the groundwork for a federal overseeing of legalized gambling within the United States.
Under the terms of the proposed legislation, the U.S. Justice Department would set minimum standards for states to offer sports betting. While the bill does not detail how sports leagues would receive the cut of gambling revenue they have been seeking — via so-called “integrity fees” — it does not prohibit said fees, either.
While the Tour is fully on the record as endorsing legalized gambling, they clarified their stance even more with a statement that supported Sens. Hath and Schumer’s federal oversight bill.
PGA Tour issues statement on the introduction of federal sports betting legislation. Shouldn’t come as a surprise, this has been the company line all along. pic.twitter.com/Qo7B2RvCrS
— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelTAN) December 19, 2018
“The PGA Tour supports the efforts of Senators Schumer and Hatch to introduce federal sports betting legislation. We continue to believe that nationwide standards are the best method of protecting the integrity of our competitions and our fans. In particular, we would welcome the establishment of a national body to oversee the integrity of sports in the United States,” the statement read.
“I knew that Congress had an obligation to ensure that the integrity of the games we love was never compromised,” Schumer said. “That is why I believe the time is now to establish a strong national integrity standard for sports betting that will protect consumers and the games themselves from corruption.”
“The legislation we’ve introduced today is the culmination of eight months of high-level meetings, discussions, and negotiations, and will serve as a placeholder for the next Congress, should they decide to continue working to address these issues,” said Hatch.
