Compatible Poker – The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, agrees that the price tag on pursuing the legalization of sports betting in the state is hefty, but he says that the cost is worth it in the long run. According to Matt Friedman, a reporter for the Newark Star-Ledger, the state is expected to pay over $2.3 million to legal firms to help overturn the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), with New Jersey using firms “that employ some of the biggest names in the legal world”.
At least one media outlet has justified these high costs, however. NJ.com wrote in response to Friedmans’ criticism: ”It’s a big hand but the stakes are huge. Analysts say sports betting could generate more than $100 million a year for New Jersey state coffers.”
Christie has been battling to allow sports betting in New Jersey ever since state residents voted in favor of a legalized and regulated industry in a 2011 poll. However the Governor’s attempts were quickly thwarted by professional sports groups who claimed that sports betting could trigger match fixing and other criminal acts in New Jersey. When Christie lost his first case in a lower court against sports bodies such as the NCAA, he appealed in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia – but was again turned down. His last hope is to take the case to the US Supreme Court, although it is not sure whether or not the court will even elect to hear his case.
A spokesman for Chrisite said, however, that the Governor is well aware of the costs but will continue battling for the rights of the state’s citizens. “We all went into this with eyes wide open that it was going to be an extended legal fight against some well-funded interests,” said the spokesman. “We went into this knowing it would be costly … This is what it costs to take a constitutional matter to the Supreme Court.”
