Card Player – In late June, the state of New Jersey made its final push toward offering full-fledged sports betting within its borders.
In 2011, state voters approved a referendum allowing the activity, and the state legislature later enacted a sports betting law. These moves were opposed by the major sports leagues — the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Additionally, the Department of Justice challenged the Garden State.
The opposition came in the form of a lawsuit, and a federal judge ruled against New Jersey this spring. However, New Jersey filed a final appeal in June.
Fast forward to late August, and Gov. Chris Christie is confident about his chances.
“I think New Jersey is going to be victorious ultimately,” Christie said Monday on the “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” show in New York, according to The Washington Times. There is no reason why Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, should have a monopoly on sports gambling.”
The leagues have argued that legalized sports betting in New Jersey could hurt the integrity of the games. Christie disagrees, citing an already operating black market.
“That is the folly of the leagues’ argument — that somehow if you legalize it, take it out of the hands of criminals, that somehow you are destabilizing the leagues,” he said. “I mean, only the commissions of these leagues and the NCAA can make that argument with a straight face.”
Specifically, New Jersey is trying to overturn the the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which limited sports betting to four states — Nevada, Oregon, Montana, and Delaware. Delaware has extremely limited sports betting, while both Montana and Oregon don’t actually have any commercial casinos offering the activity. Full-fledged sports betting is only happening in the Silver State, home to Las Vegas.
