Last Friday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed off on a bill that would permit sports betting at casinos and racetracks in the state. The major professional sports leagues, along with the NCAA, are working to prevent that.
On Tuesday, the leagues filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop New Jersey from instituting sports betting. League sources believe the leagues will be successful in doing so if they are granted the temporary restraining order, which would mean Monmouth Park - one of New Jersey's oldest racetracks - will not be able to accept wagers this coming Sunday as they planned.
In recent months, Governor Christie has shifted from vetoing bills that would uplift the prohibition on sports betting, to finally lifting the prohibition on racetracks and casinos to accept sports wagers, and then signing a bill into law to permit such practices without prosecution. New Jersey had the Sports Betting Amendment on the ballot back in November of 2011 and the voters supported the measure, but only if the federal government approved.
Federal law permits only four states in the U.S. to allow sports betting: Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. When New Jersey began their campaign to legalize sports betting in the state, the professional sports leagues cited the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 in their legal argument, and U.S. District Court Judge Michael Shipp sided with them. His ruling reinforced that the federal law superseded the state law, which put New Jersey in a legal pickle. They tried taking the case to the Supreme Court, but it was rejected.
Christie decided to speed up the process by signing the bill into law to put more pressure on the federal government to make a ruling. But it looks as if the legal battle will continue if the leagues are granted the temporary restraining order. However, New Jersey plans to use NBA commissioner Adam Silver's comments to their advantage. Silver said in September that legalized sports betting in the U.S. is inevitable and that the NBA is open to participating in it.
"If you have a gentleman's bet or a small wager on any kind of sports contest, it makes you that much more engaged in it," Silver said, in this ESPN article. "That's where we're going to see it pay dividends. If people are watching a game and clicking to bet on their smartphones, which is what people are doing in the United Kingdom right now, then it's much more likely you're going to stay tuned for a long time."
Christie and other legislators in New Jersey do not believe the integrity of sports would be negatively impacted if the state were to legalize sports betting, especially since Las Vegas, Nevada is notorious for sports gambling. But it might take just a bit longer for it to be legalized in New Jersey because it looks like the leagues will be granted the TRO since it's a federal issue.
