New Jersey’s efforts to overturn a federal bill banning sports gambling has already racked up .8 billion in lawyer’s bills despite the state losing its case at every court level so far. The case has now been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
An Associated Press investigation found that the law firm hired to help Gov. Chris Christie defend a lawsuit filed by the four major pro sports leagues and the NCAA—Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher—is the same firm Christie hired to investigate the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal that is plaguing his administration.
According to figures obtained by the AP through a public records request, Gibson Dunn billed the state for $2.8 million in fees between August 2012—when the leagues sued to stop Christie from going ahead with his plan to issue sports gambling licenses—and the end of 2013.
That only represents part of the state’s legal fees on the push to implement sports betting in the state, as other law firms have been involved.
The expense is beginning to draw controversy.
“We have an $800 million budget deficit,” state Sen. Shirley Turner, one of the few lawmakers to vote against amending the New Jersey Constitution in 2012 to allow sports gambling told the wire service. “We don’t have the money to spend on something on which the odds were long. It could have been better spent for so many other things, to help people in the state who need the help.”
Neither a spokesman for Christie nor the law firm responded to requests for comment from the AP.
