In the wake of a United States Supreme Court ruling, state sports betting regulation is being challenged by major sports leagues that believe gambling should be overseen at the federal level. A statement on Tuesday issued on behalf of four state regulators by the International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, concludes that “coordinated action among jurisdictions” — states and tribal agencies — is the key to stopping illegal betting and possible corruption of the sports themselves. Although the regulators welcomed “strong support from federal-level enforcement agencies,” they took a direct swipe at the leagues,…

Whilst state governments are pushing for a legal sports betting industry nationwide, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) introduced a bill to regulate national operations. Sports betting sector is federally banned in the United States, as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) only allows operations in Oregon, Delaware, Montana and Nevada. Pallone’s bill was supported by tribal operators, which will be included as potential bidders during the licensing process, as a source revealed to Legal Sports Report. The federal legislation would not interfere with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) nor affect the current gaming agreements between…

NJ.com – Working as a bookmaker for the mastermind of illegal sports gambling, Ron “The Cigar” Sacco, I’ve seen it all. I began clerking for Sacco in Los Angeles in 1986, when his organization was taking in a meager $40 million a year in bets. Raids on his offices in the United States eventually prompted Sacco to relocate offshore to the Dominican Republic, where gambling is legal. The feds were not deterred and Sacco was captured in 1993. By then his business was generating an estimated $1 billion a year in bets. Fast-forward two decades: U.S. News and World Report…

Online Poker Report – A new online gambling bill that includes a carveout for online poker is said to be in play at the federal level. That’s per Nevada journalist John Ralston, who posted a copy of the bill draft on his site here. Ralston did not offer much additional context for the bill, saying only that it is “floating around DC,” and adding “I smell a Nevada company.” The bill draft is titled the “Internet Gambling Prohibition and Control Act of 2014” – a variation on the original title of the Sheldon Adelson-backed “Restoration of America’s Wire Act” (RAWA)…

Twin Cities – A Bloomington, Minnesota, man is accused of running an illegal gambling operation that preyed upon North Dakota gamblers for years, and funneling the money back and forth among North Dakota, Minnesota and Costa Rica. In an indictment filed last year in April and unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo, Gerald J. “Maverick” Greenfield, 68, is charged with one count of conducting a sports betting business, one count of interstate and international wire wagering, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment says Greenfield worked mostly in cash deals with gamblers he took…