January 2017 may be the year that the future of sports betting in New Jersey is finally determined. The Garden State is hoping that the US Supreme Court will hear its appeal against previous rulings that New Jersey cannot repeal its own laws pertaining to sports betting. Just four judges out of eight need to vote in favor of the hearing for it to take place sometime this year. The vote regarding whether the Supreme Court will hear the appeal will take place in the first month of the year.
New Jersey has continually argued that PASPA, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (aka the Bradley Act) is unconstitutional. The 1992 law halts all states from legalizing sports betting. Four states were exempted from PASPA’s laws (Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana) and were grandfathered in the bill.
Last week, New Jersey State (represented by Governor Chris Christie) and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association filed replies to their request for a SCOTUS review, just before the deadline was up. Also adding their comments against the case being heard by the Supreme Court were major professional sports leagues, including the NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL, as well as the NCAA.
New Jersey maintains Congress “lacks the power to compel a state to prohibit acts under its own state laws.” New Jersey’s argument is that “if all a state does is narrow its own state-law prohibitions, there is nothing Congress constitutionally may preempt.” Christie’s law team also ascertain that “the principle that Congress may not regulate States’ regulation of interstate commerce hardly is dictum; it is a bedrock principle of federalism on which the entire anti-commandeering doctrine is founded.”
On January 13th, 2017, the US Supreme Court’s eight justice conference will meet together to decide which cases it will hear throughout the course of the year. On January 17th, it is likely that the decision regarding New Jersey’s sports betting hearing will made public.
Analysts believe that New Jersey has a fighting chance to have its case heard by the US Supreme Court, especially since the case has received the backing by various individual states such as Mississippi, West Virginia, Arizona and Wisconsin. The American Gaming Association has also lobbied for changes to PASPA which would allow states to determine their own sports betting rules.
