# Murphy v. NCAA **Decided May 14, 2018 · 7–2 on commandeering, 6–3 on remedy · Alito, J.** The Court struck down the **Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA)**, which barred states from authorizing sports gambling. ## The law it struck PASPA was sponsored by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), a former NBA player, and signed by George H. W. Bush on October 28, 1992. It did not make sports betting a federal crime. It forbade states to "authorize" it. Nevada's existing sports pools were grandfathered, as were the sports lotteries in Oregon, Delaware and Montana. New Jersey got a one-year window to legalize, and did not use it. ## New Jersey's path to the Court New Jersey voters approved sports betting in a 2011 referendum. The 2012 Sports Wagering Act was struck down under PASPA (*Christie I*). In 2014 the state tried a different route: instead of authorizing sports betting, it **repealed** its own prohibitions at casinos and racetracks. The leagues sued again and won in the Third Circuit (*Christie II*). The case reached the Supreme Court as *Christie v. NCAA* and was renamed when Phil Murphy succeeded [[Chris Christie]] as governor. It was argued December 4, 2017. ## The holding The government argued that PASPA did not commandeer anyone, because it commanded no affirmative act: it only told states not to do something. The Court rejected the distinction: "It is as if federal officers were installed in state legislative chambers and were armed with the authority to stop legislators from voting on any offending proposals. A more direct affront to state sovereignty is not easy to imagine." The extension matters. Commandeering now covers laws that **prevent a state from repealing its own law**, not only laws that conscript state action. Alito also drew a clean line around preemption: a valid preemption provision must regulate private actors, not issue directives to states. Congress may regulate sports gambling directly. It may not tell legislatures what to do. **The votes.** On commandeering it was 7–2: [[Samuel Alito]] for [[John Roberts]], [[Anthony Kennedy]], [[Clarence Thomas]], [[Elena Kagan]], [[Neil Gorsuch]] and [[Stephen Breyer]]. On severability (whether all of PASPA fell) it was 6–3, with Breyer joining [[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] and [[Sonia Sotomayor]], who would have kept the rest of the law. Thomas wrote separately to question the severability doctrine itself. ## What followed Regulation passed to the states. Missouri became the **39th** state to legalize, by a November 2024 ballot measure, and launched on December 1, 2025. Thirty-nine states and D.C. now allow it. In 2025, according to the American Gaming Association's report, Americans wagered about **$167 billion** with legal sportsbooks, which kept about $17 billion and paid more than $3.7 billion in state taxes (one report, carried by two outlets). See [[Sports Betting]]. ## Murphy in the prediction-market war Both sides of the 2026 fight over [[Prediction Markets]] cite the same sentence: "Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if it elects not to do so, each State is free to act on its own." - **Kalshi's reading.** The Third Circuit quoted it in *[[KalshiEX v. Flaherty]]* (April 6, 2026, 2–1) and held that Congress **did** act, by giving the [[CFTC]] exclusive authority over event contracts. On that reading, Congress chose to regulate, and its choice displaces state gambling law for a federally registered exchange. - **The states' reading.** New Jersey's certiorari petition (September 2, 2026) leans on the second half: each state "is free to act on its own." A ruling that was about states' freedom to **allow** betting has become the text in a fight over whether states can **stop** it. ## See also - [[Anti-Commandeering Doctrine]] · [[New York v. United States]] · [[Federalism Powers Crosswalk]] - [[Sports Betting]] · [[KalshiEX v. Flaherty]] · [[Federal Preemption]] · [[Prediction Markets and Gambling Sector]] - [[FanDuel]] · [[DraftKings]] · [[Sanctuary Jurisdiction]]