New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak is determined to get sports betting in his state and he’s readying a new attempt even as the state’s first attempt is awaiting U.S. Supreme Court action.
Lesniak told a conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill that will allow private operations of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos.
“Right now, book your hotel room in Atlantic City for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak said. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the Supreme Court takes the case it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states, but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it,” Lesniak said. “I have legislation being drafted to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
New Jersey previously adopted a sports-betting law—after approval in a public referendum—but was challenged in court by the professional sports leagues and later the U.S. Department of Justice. Courts have ruled that the state’s law is in violation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states.
New Jersey has lost in several appeals court battles and is now waiting to hear if the Supreme Court will hear the case. The state argues that the law is discriminatory and violates its right to regulate gambling.
During the court cases, federal lawyers argued that the law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, saying that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports-betting laws, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.
Lesniak’s proposed bill would apparently act on that argument.
