No sports betting for NJ: Garden State loses legal fight with feds
NEWARK — A federal appeals court has rejected New Jersey's attempt to legalize sports betting, setting aside the state's legal challenge to a federal ban.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling published Tuesday invalidates a law passed by New Jersey in 2014 that would have allowed sports betting at casinos and racetracks.
The four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA sued the state, claiming the expansion of legal sports betting would damage the integrity of their games and lead to game-fixing.
Currently, only Nevada offers betting on individual games. Delaware offers multigame parlay betting in which players must pick several games correctly to win. Hundreds of billions of dollars are bet illegally on sports annually.
The 3rd Circuit wrote Tuesday New Jersey's law violates a 1992 federal law.
The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Ray Lesniak, essentially calls for the Garden State to ignore a federal ban on sports betting at New Jersey casinos and racetracks
He told New Jersey 101.5 earlier this year New Jersey was arguing the federal law because it “requires the states to enforce it, and that’s a clear violation of the 10th Amendment of state’s rights. It makes perfect sense to argue that New Jersey should have what Las Vegas has, and also quite frankly what organized crime has — internet off-shore sports betting sites.”
He added his measure is a little difficult for lay people to understand, but “it’s basically saying that the federal government can’t force a state to enforce its laws, that violates the 10th Amendment.”
“What we want to win, what I want to win, what I’ve been fighting for, is to win not only for the state, but also for Atlantic City and our racetracks because those are two very important job producing activities that we have in the state,” Lesniak said. “Sports betting is going on whether we like it or not and it’s better for us to have it and for our jobs to benefit and our ailing casinos and racetracks.”
— Associated Press and staff reports
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