Will crypto companies benefit from today’s Supreme Court ruling?
The United States Supreme Court today announced the repeal of the gambling law that barred states from setting their own regulations related to sports betting.
The law, nicknamed PASPA was declared unconstitutional in the 7-2 decision, meaning it will be up to states to decide whether to 
allow its residents to bet on sports.
This could be a positive development for crypto tokens or companies that are playing in the gambling and sports betting space. Either coins that currently exist or there could be a rush of new coins arriving shortly to take advantage of the ruling.
We know that FanDuel has already toyed with crypto and fantasy betting. From Yahoo:
“For this year’s NFL Playoffs, the daily fantasy sports company FanDuel offered a “Bitcoin Bowl” contest in which winners were paid in bitcoin. The winner received 1 bitcoin. It was FanDuel’s first foray into cryptocurrency.
Now FanDuel is doing it again, with fantasy NBA. FanDuel’s Crypto Cup will launch on Feb. 22, and the prize money will be paid in cryptocurrency—but in Dash (DigitalCash), not bitcoin. The contest is “presented by Dash.”
“Our first cryptocurrency contest was a new experience and well-received by our users, so we wanted to continue to offer this unique prizing option,” he says. “We are at the forefront of the sports industry, so whether it’s Bingo or cryptocurrency as a prize, our goal is to innovate our contests and prizes to give more people more ways to play and win on FanDuel.”
Interestingly, DFS users may also over-index as cryptocurrency enthusiasts. When FanDuel launched its Bitcoin Bowl, Giancamilli said in a press release, “We’re recognizing that most of our users are early adopters of technology and have a significant interest in cryptocurrency.”
So now that PASPA has been struck down, states now can establish sports betting rules and many experts expect them all to do so. Because revenue of course…
“That’s the news every one of these states was waiting for,” sports and gambling law attorney Daniel Wallach told USA TODAY Sports. “Every one of these states’ legislative measures hinged on the finding of the Supreme Court that PASPA is unconstitutional. The ruling allows the states to legislate immediately and for all such laws to become effective immediately.”
There are quite a few tokens / coins already in the space, most seem to be built on top of Ethereum. So this could be positive for Ethereum or other platforms that Betting DAPPS are being built on. Two of the more popular tokens that I have looked at are Edgeless (EDG) and FunFair (FUN). Pantera Capital who is an 0X backer as I mentioned here, is also an investor in FunFair. As the time of this writing I do not own either of the above tokens. However, I do expect to do some more research and add some to my portfolio.
Of course allowing sports betting in the states could negatively effect offshore sports books, so these crypto tokens would probably need to have some US presence, apply for licenses, or work with currently licensed state casinos or sports books to reap some of the rewards.
Nothing I write should be used as investment advice, these are just my thoughts and opinions.
Also published on Medium.
