Governor Chris Christie: ‘New Jersey Will Win Sports Betting Case’
Sitting in as a special co-host on the “Boomer and Carton in the Morning” show in New York Monday morning, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proclaimed that his state will win its case against the professional sports leagues in their effort to prevent sports betting in NJ.
New Jersey voters overwhelmingly agreed that sports betting should be permitted with the governor signing into law a measure that would allow bets in Atlantic City casinos and horse tracks.
The National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association sued the state, citing a law that makes sports wagering illegal in all but a handful of states. A federal judge sided with the leagues back in March, asserting that
Christie said he anticipates the case to ultimately be heard by the Supreme Court and balked at the notion that only around a half dozen states should be permitted to reap the rewards of sports wagering.
With the federal judge deciding that Congress has the ability to regulate interstate industries like sports betting, Christie pointed out that the Congress is currently ruled in part by Nevada Senator Harry Reid, whose interest it is to keep gambling on sports exclusive to his home state.
“I think New Jersey is going to be victorious ultimately,” the Republican governor said on the popular sports talk radio program. “There is no reason why Las Vegas, the state of Nevada, should have a monopoly on sports gambling.”
Christie also took the opportunity to Condemn the leagues for helping to perpetuate a black market for sports wagering.
“That is the folly of the leagues’ argument — that somehow if you legalize it, take it out of the hands of criminals, that somehow you are destabilizing the leagues. I mean, only the commissions of these leagues and the NCAA can make that argument with a straight face,” Mr. Christie said.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
