The Commissioner for the National Football League (NFL), Roger Goodell (pictured), has called upon the federal government to pass legislation that would establish ‘uniform standards’ for the regulation of legalized real-money sportsbetting.

The Monday plea from the 59-year-old followed last week’s landmark ruling from the United States Supreme Court that nullified the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which means that it is now up to individual states to decide whether and how to authorize and regulate the placing of real-money wagers on a wide range of sports including gridiron football.

Via an official statement, Goodell declared that federal legislators must ensure that any states that may now decide to legalize real-money sportsbetting be required to follow ‘four core principles’ in order to protect fans, coaches and players while upholding ‘public confidence in our games’.

Goodell detailed that these tenets must include ‘substantial consumer protections’ alongside measures that would give law enforcement bodies the necessary tools and resources to look after sports fans and ‘penalize bad actors here at home and abroad’. He explained that any future federal sports wagering legislation should moreover mandate that bettors be given access to official and reliable data while allowing leagues to protect their content and ‘intellectual property’ against those who may attempt to ‘steal or misuse’ such materials.

“As it was for my predecessors, there is no greater priority for me as the Commissioner of the NFL than protecting the integrity of our sport,” read the statement from Goodell. “Our fans, our players and our coaches deserve to know that we are doing everything possible to ensure no improper influences affect how the game is played on the field.”