New Jersey attempt to legalize sports betting denied on appeal

The federal ban on sports betting in all but four states was upheld Tuesday, dealing a blow to New Jersey’s latest effort to expand gambling options to help its struggling casinos and racetracks.

New Jersey’s first attempt in 2012 at legalizing sports betting was struck down by an earlier U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit panel, which found the law expressly authorized the betting and was pre-empted by PASPA.

The case stemmed from the lawsuit five sports leagues, including the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Football League, brought against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and other state officials including the state’s Director of Gaming Enforcement David Rebuck.

At issue was how New Jersey’s sports betting law intersected with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which more or less banned sports betting nationwide.

“Even the analysis from the court admits, (the federal ban) is criticized for allowing illegal gambling to flourish and stifling vital economic growth at our racetracks and casinos”, Lesniak said in a statement.

“We repealed a law for sports betting at casinos and racetracks, and that does not violate” the federal ban, said Lesniak, a Democrat.

But the NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB, and National Hockey League sued, and both a federal court and the Third Circuit appeals court sided with them in 2013.

Judges Marjorie Rendell, Maryanne Trump Barry, and Julio Fuentes were on the panel.

But the measure did not make it to the ballot in New Jersey for a statewide referendum before the end of 1993, so the window for the state to allow sports betting closed.

Rendell said for the majority that the court acknowledged the state’s “salutary” objective in trying to legalize sports betting to revive its “troubled” casino and racetrack industries.

Regardless of the choice, New Jersey is certainly one of a number of states hoping to move sports activities betting laws. Following the issuance of an injunction by the U.S. District Court issued in November of 2014, the State appealed to the Third Circuit.

Donald Trump, who sold his shares in the casinos years ago, is now running against Christie for the Republican presidential nomination.

“There is simply no conceivable reading of PASPA that could preclude a state from restricting sports wagering”, Fuentes wrote in his opinion. Shipp wrote that “to the extent the people of New Jersey disagree with PASPA, their remedy is not through passage of a state law or through the judiciary, but through the repeal or amendment of PASPA in Congress”. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) and Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) – have introduced federal legislation that would pave the way for legal sports betting in the state.

The petition for an en banc hearing must be submitted within 14 days.

The American Gambling Association said the Third Circuit’s ruling shows the need for a deeper examination into the best path forward on the issue of sports betting and how gaming should be regulated. Citing one estimate of $400 billion in illicit bets placed around country each year, Silver called for a “safe” and “legal” way for sports fans to place wagers.