Phil Hellmuth Slams Supreme Court Hypocrisy On Twitter

Phil Hellmuth reckons a new argument can now be made for online poker in the US thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision on the 14th May to make sports betting legal country wide. 

The ruling overturns a law which made sports betting legal only in Nevada on the grounds that this was unconstitutional. As a result, the estimated $150 billion wagered illegally in the US (in contrast to the roughly $5 billion in legal bets placed in Nevada) may be headed towards regulated companies instead of backstreet bookmakers and leg-breakers.

Phil Hellmuth was quick to point out the hypocrisy of legalising sports gambling this way when poker is still in the doghouse.

And Phil may be right, David Rebuck of New Jersey’s Gaming Commision suggested last year that:

“if we win sports wagering, online gaming will go to every state that adopts sports betting. As soon as sports wagering is legalized, online gambling will follow right behind it.”

After years of trying to wrestle with the Wire Act and its more robust cousin UIGEA, poker may be coming home to America’s digital shore. This breakthrough comes from a somewhat unexpected direction, but sports betting was one reason for the Wire Act originally so you could consider this is as everything coming full circle

Now the sports bettors have won, the thin end of the wedge is in. Now it just needs driving home for us poker players.