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With a Republican and a Democrat working together in Congress to provide oversight to sports betting, the leading professional and collegiate sports league have joined forces as well.

“Protecting the integrity of our sports is of paramount importance to the NFL and NCAA,” the NFL and NCAA said in a joint statement. “We applaud the leadership demonstrated by Senators [Orrin] Hatch and [Chuck] Schumer in support and federal legislation to protect the integrity of our games following the Supreme Court decision. Core federal standards are critical to safeguarding the sports we love, the millions of athletes across the country who play these games at all levels and our fans.”

This represents a fallback position for the NFL and NCAA, which fought tooth and nail to keep sports wagering illegal. Now that the cat is out of the bag, they hope to find a way to keep it under control. Lobbying aggressively for federal legislation makes much more sense in this regard than working on the issue one state at a time.