New Jersey is making its final pitches to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge to a federal sports betting ban.
In a filing to the court, the state says the federal law needs to be reviewed immediately and reiterates the state’s claim that the law has a “severe constitutional problems” because it infringes on state’s rights in violation of the 10th Amendment and is also discriminatory as it allows some states to offer sports betting while banning others.
The law allows sports betting in states that met a 1991 deadline to pass laws approving it. Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon met the deadline, though Nevada is the only state with a true sports book in place.
New Jersey had a chance to pass a law, but missed the deadline as the issue became embroiled in a political battle during the state’s 1992 gubernatorial election—the state had a one-year extension to pass a law—and never went before voters.
The U.S. Department of Justice, arguing against New Jersey, has filed briefs with the court saying the state is now trying to undo its own mistake.
Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, along with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, all support the ban, saying it upholds the integrity of the games and have also challenged New Jersey in court.
The New Jersey filing points out that sports betting was overwhelmingly favored in a non-binding referendum put before New Jersey voters in 2011.
“New Jersey’s citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of sports wagering, and their representatives seek to respond, through the enactment of positive law,” New Jersey’s attorney Theodore Olson wrote.
The brief states that no federal law directly prohibits individuals from betting on sports and the ban only blocks a “governmental entity” from to licensing or authorizing sports wagering. New Jersey argues that Congress has no authority to regulate the approval or disapproval of activities expressed by individual states.
New Jersey is seeking legalized sports betting to generate new revenue and customers for its struggling casinos and horse-racing tracks, as well as to gain taxes now going to illegal betting operations. Six other states have filed briefs in support of New Jersey.
The Supreme Court has placed the matter on its conference schedule and could make a decision as early as June 23 on whether to hear the case.
