On Tuesday night, New Jersey filed its briefings with the Supreme Court ahead of a fall hearing to determine the fate of sports betting nation-wide. The Garden State called on the high court to remove a ban on sports betting because it forces states to enforce a Congress law that they may not be interested in enforcing.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear New Jersey’s appeal to remove itself from the federal sports betting law, PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992), which bans all but four states from offering legal sports betting options to their residents. New Jersey claims that the law exceeds Congressional authority. Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon are the only four states who opted out of PASPA which was passed in 1992.
Over the past decade, New Jersey has been fighting to allow legal and regulated sports betting within its borders, even passing a law authorizing sports betting. As soon as the law was passed, it was challenged by major professional and collegiate sports leagues. Several lawsuits brought against the state by these leagues resulted in New Jersey appealing to the highest court in the land to have PASPA overturned.
In its briefing this week, New Jersey wrote: “To meet Congress’s objective of forestalling further legalization of sports wagering, PASPA directs States to maintain in effect their state-law prohibitions on the activity. Our constitutional structure does not permit Congress to regulate interstate commerce in that manner. Under our Constitution, if Congress wishes for sports wagering to be illegal, it must make the activity unlawful itself. It cannot compel states to do so. The decision of the court of appeals should be reversed.”
New Jersey brought up the argument that the American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates that Americans illegally gamble around $149 billion on sports events each year. By having states legalizing sports betting, state governments will be able to better monitor and regulate this activity, all the while bringing in much needed revenues through taxes and licensing fees.
Briefs were filed by Governor Chris Christie, who has been at the forefront of New Jersey’s fight to bring about legal sports betting, as well as by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s association (as defendant and appellant with the state), and Pacific Legal Defendant et al which filed an amicus brief.
