Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
Reacting to a federal court decision Monday that sports betting in Delaware would violate a 1992 federal law on such wagering in all but three states, state Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union) said New Jersey will continue to press its lawsuit that the statute is an unconstitutional and unfair infringement on states' rights.
"The Delaware case was determined on a statutory interpretation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act federal ban on sports betting and not on the constitutional issues raised by New Jersey's challenge,'' Lesniak said. "Therefore, we plan on proceeding with the challenge as planned, and this latest development does not deter us from challenging (the law) as unconstitutional.
"While I'm relieved, as a New Jersey official, that Delaware gambling interests will not be given the opportunity to get a head start on sports betting – thereby attracting tourists away from Atlantic City's casinos – I continue to find it ridiculous that consenting adults in New Jersey, Delaware and forty-five other states cannot legally bet on sporting events, while citizens in three states essentially maintain a monopoly on legal sports betting,'' the senator added.
"Everyone should have a level playing field, and right now, (the federal ban) tips the odds in favor of just three states where legal sports betting is allowed. It's in everyone's interests to overturn (the law) and allow states to take a measure of control over their own destinies when it comes to sports betting."The federal court ruling handed down in Philadelphia halts Delaware's plans to begin taking sports bets in September.
The plan was opposed by professional sports leagues and the NCAA, which argued it violated the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, and harm their reputations and expose young people to sports betting.
Delaware wants sports betting as a way to ease the state government's fiscal problems. It was one of four states exempted from the federal ban on sports betting because it once ran a National Football league sports lottery in 1976. Sports betting occurs only in Nevada but is also permitted in Montana and Oregon.
– TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
