New Jersey sports betting fight pits legislators against leagues
ALL BETS ARE OFF: It turns out sports betting isn’t the best issue to build bipartisanship.
By Josh Kaib | WatchdogWire.com
A Democrat and Republican have teamed up on an important issue, but the four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA want to stop them. It turns out sports betting isn’t the best issue to build bipartisanship.
On Monday, the NCAA, NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB joined forces in filing a motion to block Gov. Chris Christie from legalizing sports betting.
This comes as two state senators are joining forces to push for legalization, according to a report:
Democrat Raymond Lesniak and Republican Joseph Kyrillos announced Tuesday that they intend to introduce the legislation when the Senate meets Oct. 9.
They say the bill would reinforce the state attorney general’s position that the state can legally lift the ban on sports betting, so long as it does not specifically authorize the wagering.
The bill would also set a 21-year-old minimum age for betting.
But representatives for the sports leagues say the state would be circumventing federal law.
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, “prevents state-sponsored sports betting outside of Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon,” according to ESPN. The leagues say New Jersey has yet to meet all the requirements in the law to allow sports betting.
