The four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA got another win Tuesday in an attempt to stop New Jersey from legalizing sports gambling in its casinos.
The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia struck down New Jersey’s law that would allow fans to bet on sports inside the state’s casinos and horse tracks. This battle between New Jersey and the leagues has been going on since 2012 and is the second attempt by New Jersey to legalize sports gambling.
According to the court, 10 out of the 12 justices agreed that New Jersey’s initiative violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. This law was passed in 1992 and effectively banned sports gambling nearly everywhere except places like Las Vegas.
“We now hold that the District Court correctly ruled that because PASPA, by its terms, prohibits states from authorizing by law sports gambling and because the 2014 Law does exactly that, the 2014 Law violates federal law,” Judge Marjorie Rendell wrote in the court’s 12-page opinion.
The first legal battle between the leagues and New Jersey dates back to 2012 when the state passed the law that would offer sports gambling to those in New Jersey. But by the time New Jersey began posting gambling regulations on its state website, the four leagues and NCAA were already pursuing legal action.
Much like the second time around, the leagues won every step of the way in the legal battle. New Jersey attempted to bring the case to the Supreme Court, but that request was denied. This forced New Jersey to rewrite its law and produce the most current version. But that law now faces a fate similar to the state’s first version of the law.
This decision is another setback for those working to legalize sports gambling in different states across the country. Some believed that New Jersey could pave the way for other states to legalize gambling. But so far, the majority of those in power in the major leagues have pushed back against any state’s attempt to legalize gambling. The only big name on the league’s side to lean toward endorsing sports gambling is NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
[ESPN]