Some powerful folks in the American casino world are betting on Donald Trump fast-forwarding the push toward legalized sports gambling in this country. In his year-end conference call with reporters, Geoff Freeman, president of the pro-casino American Gaming Association (AGA) trade group, said Trump’s firsthand business experience within the gaming industry bodes well for a repeal of a federal law barring sports betting in most states. “With regards to sports betting, I think that we are entering a perfect storm,’’ Freeman said. Freeman cited interest among television broadcasters and individual team owners in repealing the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports…

Philly.com – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has denied New Jersey’s petition to have the state’s challenge to a federal sports-betting law heard by all the judges on the court in Philadelphia. A panel of three Third Circuit judges in September upheld a lower-court ruling with a 2-1 decision that the 1992 federal law barring sports betting in all but four states, including Nevada, is constitutional. The state’s only recourse now is the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Christie signed New Jersey’s sports-betting law in January 2012, after a question on the issue passed in a referendum…