This is a little confusing … because didn\’t Barney Frank succumb to the NFL and make sure sports betting wasn\’t included in any bill that codifies American freedom to gamble online?
I thought so, too … and maybe that\’s why few seem to be recognizing the historic happenings right here, right now, with sports betting in Nevada. Check out the new TV commercials — seen on the local ABC affiliate before the UT-Tech game — for the first ever legal wagering app in the United States, moral opposition be damned:
We knew the release of \”Leroy\’s App\” might be kinda a big deal … and the CEO of Leroy\’s parent company, American Wagering, Inc., spells out pretty clearly their intent to have their finger on every \”online\” sports bet in the country with \”interstate sports betting networks, phone betting, and real-time handheld devices\”:
Yikes, fairly dramatic … but a 31-year gestation period for online sports betting in America? That\’s not so ridiculous when you consider the foundation of all opposition to \”online gambling\” traces back the Wire Act of 1961, made law of the land 49 years ago. Forget Harry Reid health care … it takes a long time for the kinda change we can believe in (in Nevada).
With Leroy\’s fully legal online sports betting now marketing itself en masse — a development we hardly heard a whisper about until shortly after removal of sports betting from the Frank bill — you gotta think it\’s only a matter of time before Cantor Gaming gets approval to take their \”real-time handheld devices\” (pimped by Doyle Brunson) beyond a casino property\’s firewalls.
Even the bankruptcy-challenged Station Casinos has a fully legal online sports betting option — just no app yet. Haven\’t figured out how long they\’ve had this, but they apparently just launched a program allowing you, from home or wherever, to convert slot machine points into real-money sports wagers.
Who says sports betting won\’t be part of legal online gambling in America? Seems it kinda-sorta already is, and is just being set up to ensure Vegas won\’t lose out to bookies in London or New Jersey.