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BY EVAN WEINER
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the New Jersey legislature and New Jersey voters are now in a court battle with four major sports leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association over the issue of legalized sports betting at 12 Atlantic City casinos along with five racetracks in the state. Apparently the goal was to start operations in time for the National Football League and the college football seasons which get underway in September.
The people may have spoken when they said they wanted a sports book in the state by referendum, yet the leagues and the college entity are attempting to block the implementation of the sports book. The sports overseers have gone to court and sued Governor Christie in a bid to overturn last November's voters’ decision. It seems that the sports owners and the college presidents, chancellors, and provosts that rule big time college sports haven't heard that people gamble on the outcome of their games legally in Nevada, illegally in office pools and can establish off shore online accounts in a betting parlor say in Hamilton, Bermuda to place a few bucks down.
The barons of sports want to make sure their product is as pure as Caesar's wife and not tarnished by wagering. The National Football League is so incensed with Christie and New Jersey voters that the East Rutherford-based New York Giants co-owner John Mara cannot see his league ever holding a second Super Bowl in the state if the league loses the court case.
These are the same barons who have an active interest in casinos and gambling. The New York Giants in 2009 entered into an agreement with the Connecticut Lottery Corporation for a Giants-branded scratch-off ticket game. The NFL allows teams to find casino and lottery marketing partners to add to the bottom line. The National Hockey League gladly allowed some of the proceeds from the Alberta hockey lottery to find a way to help the bottom line of the provinces' two hockey teams, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. The owners of the Florida Panthers are hoping to get a casino license from the state of Florida and build a facility near the team's Sunrise arena. The Pittsburgh Penguins’s new arena's debt load is being partially paid off by casino revenues from a local establishment.
The owner of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers, Michael Ilitch, also has casino interests through his family. The Ilitch family allegedly was looking to open a casino in Long Island with the thought that some casino revenues could go to funding a new home for the NHL's New York Islanders in Nassau County.
Major League Baseball once barred Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from baseball activities when the pair represented an Atlantic City casino. Casino marketing partnerships with Major League teams abound today.
In 2009, NBA Commissioner David Stern told Sports Illustrated that his owners might be interested in more revenue through gambling. The National Basketball Association's other league, the Women's National Basketball Association has one owner with a major casino connection---the Connecticut Sun is a subsidiary of the Mohegan Sun.
New Jersey politicians want sports gambling money to help boost revenues in state coffers, in Atlantic City casinos and perhaps save the horse racing industry in the state. Sports gambling money is not a major factor in the success of casinos in Nevada or in Delaware although it is estimated that Nevada does take in some $2.6 billion on sports action annually.
Nevada casino officials are not commenting on the sports league’s lawsuit against New Jersey, other than to say they are monitoring developments.
Last February, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said that the New York Giants-New England Patriots Super Bowl was a big winner for Nevada casinos as gamblers wagered $93,889,840 across the state's 184 legal sports books with Nevada's legal sports books winning $5,064,470 on the game.
But with limited National Football League betting, Delaware's racetracks picked up only a couple million dollars in 2009, 2010 and 2011, as football parlay betting is not a big revenue producer.
New Jersey needs the sports action. The state has lost gamblers who have gone to New York or Pennsylvania for action. The horse racing industry in both Delaware and New York has been bolstered by casino gaming in those states. The New Jersey tracks are dying, and with that comes the loss of track related businesses including horse farms and associated businesses. The sports book could give the horse racing industry in New Jersey a major boost and save jobs.
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People that want to gamble are gambling NOW. Either with an illegal bookie, online, or with a friend.
The upside to legalized sports betting is that casinos/tracks/government (and bettors) get the revenue instead of organized crime and offshore bookies.