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How a 2018 Supreme Court decision paved the way for meteoric growth in legal sports bettingWASHINGTON (AP) — A 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates to legalized sports-betting industry, now worth billions of dollars a year, even as it recognized that the decision was controversial.That high-court ruling is back in the spotlight after the arrests on Thursday of more than 30 people, including an NBA player and coach, in two cases alleging sprawling criminal schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families.What did the Supreme Court decide?The court's ruling struck down a 1992 federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, that had barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states.Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion that the way Congress went about the gambling ban, barring states from authorizing sports betting, violated the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment, which protects the power of states.“The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” Alito wrote. The court’s “job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution. PASPA is not.”The trouble with the law, Alito explained, was that Congress did not make betting on sports a federal crime. Instead, it prohibited states from authorizing legalized gambling, improperly infringing on their authority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, Neil Gorsuch and Elena Kagan joined Alito’s opinion.Dissenting justices said the court should have acted more narrowlyJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that even if the part of the law regulating the states’ behavior should be struck down, the rest of it should have survived. In particular, Ginsburg wrote that a separate provision that applied to private parties and betting schemes should have been left in place.Writing for Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer, Ginsburg said that when a portion of a law violates the Constitution, the court “ordinarily engages in a salvage rather than a demolition operation,” preserving what it can. She said that instead of using a “scalpel to trim the statute” her colleagues used “an axe.” Breyer agreed with the majority that part of the law must be struck down but said that should not have doomed the rest of the law.But Alito, in his majority opinion, wrote that Congress did not contemplate treating the two provisions separately.Opponents of gambling warned about corruptionSenator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a former college and NBA star, was a sponsor of the law that he said was needed to protect against “the dangers of sports betting.”All four major U.S. professional sports leagues and the NCAA had urged the court to uphold the federal law, saying a gambling expansion would hurt the integrity of their games. They also said that with legal sports betting in the United States, they’d have to spend a lot more money monitoring betting patterns and investigating suspicious activity.The Trump administration also called for the law to be upheld.Alito acknowledged in his majority opinion “the legalization of sports gambling is a controversial subject,” in part for its potential to “corrupt professional and college sports.”He included references to the “Black Sox Scandal,” the fixing of the 1919 World Series by members of the Chicago White Sox, and the point-shaving scandal of the early 1950s that rocked college basketball.But ultimately, he wrote, Congress couldn’t require states to keep sports gambling prohibitions in place.

Sports newsletter Studio IX 🏀⚽️🥇 Who's No. 1? 🏆 Best sports betting appsNFLNFL Week 12: Picks, predictions and odds for every gameBlake SchusterUSA TODAYWeek 12 of the 2025 NFL season kicks off on Thursday night when the Buffalo Bills visit the Houston Texans and wraps up Monday night with Christian McCaffrey's San Francisco 49ers facing off against the tailback's former franchise, the Carolina Panthers.There are no international games this week, which means the Sunday slate will kick off at 1 p.m. ET with two stellar divisional matchups. The Minnesota Vikings head to Wisconsin to face the Green Bay Packers followed by the Dallas Cowboys welcoming the Philadelphia Eagles to Texas.USA TODAY's panel of NFL experts have locked in their picks and predictions for all the action. Here's everything you need to know for every Week 12 matchup.Expert records through Week 10NameWeek 102025 SeasonJon Hoefling7-884-77-3Blake Schuster11-483-65-3Tyler Dragon6-982-79-3Chris Bumbaca11-478-83-3Lorenzo Reyes6-977-86-3Jordan Mendoza7-864-68-2Richard MorinN/A25-12-1NFL Week 12 picks, predictions, oddsBills at TexansSeahawks at TitansGiants at LionsJets at RavensSteelers at BearsPatriots at BengalsColts at ChiefsVikings at PackersBrowns at RaidersJaguars at CardinalsFalcons at SaintsEagles at CowboysBuccaneers at RamsPanthers at 49ersNFL Week 12 live oddsGet the edge with our exclusive NFL betting picksSuper Bowl 60 updated oddsThis schedule was generated automatically using information from Stats Perform and a template written and reviewed by a USA TODAY Sports editor. You can send feedback using this form.Gambling involves risk. Please only gamble with funds that you can comfortably afford to lose.  While we do our utmost to offer good advice and information we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of gambling.  We do our best to make sure all the information that we provide on this site is correct. However, from time to time mistakes will be made and we will not be held liable. Please check any stats or information if you are unsure how accurate they are. No guarantees are made with regards to results or financial gain. All forms of betting carry financial risk and it is up to the individual to make bets with or without the assistance of information provided on this site and we cannot be held responsible for any loss that may be incurred as a result of following the betting tips provided on this site.  Past performances do not guarantee success in the future and betting odds fluctuate from one minute to the next. The material contained on this site is intended to inform, entertain and educate the reader and in no way represents an inducement to gamble legally or illegally or any sort of professional advice.Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside. It is your sole responsibility to act in accordance with your local laws.