Blame Chris Christie for Sports Betting Ad Inundation

Matt Ford has a good piece out in regard to who is responsible for the indundation of sports betting ads we see on television these days.

Love him or hate him, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will forever go down as the politician who helped usher in this semi-new industry.

If it feels like the constant onslaught of celebrities telling you to download various betting apps (here comes Drew Brees urging you to “live your bet life”) or yammering on about in-game parlays came out of nowhere, that’s because it did. And you can thank—or, perhaps more accurately, blame—former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and the Supreme Court of the United States for that.

Sure there's a downside, but in the end Christie can take credit for filling dozens of state coffers through taxes realized as a result of regulated sports betting.  New Jersey takes in just 9.75% of taxes in retail sportsbooks and 14.25 percent on mobile while neighboring New York gets some 50%, among the highest in the nation.

Yes that's right, should Christie run for President again - it's possible he might - he can single-handedly claim to have helped all these states solve a good portion of their fiscal crisises.  That's not fake news. 

Christie wasn't always on board.  He vetoed previous legislation brought forward by former Democrat senator Ray Lesniak.

Gambler Sentenced of Defrauding Government

Toronto Gambler Sentenced for Falsifying Income Tax Returns

AUSTIN, Texas – A Canadian national was sentenced in federal court here Friday to serve 30 months in prison and pay $1,771,011.67 in restitution for making false statements on income tax returns.

According to court documents, William Henry Woo, 67, of Toronto submitted duplicate and inflated refund requests to the IRS Service Center in Austin as a Canadian citizen seeking automatically withheld gambling winnings.  In doing so, he defrauded the U.S. Department of Treasury of nearly $1.8 million in tax refund money from 2006 to 2010. Woo pleaded guilty to two counts of the nine-count indictment brought against him in October 2022.

“Mr. Woo, who admitted his addiction to gambling, lost his biggest bet,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas.  “He got caught on his gamble that he could cheat the U.S. government on his taxes.  I appreciate the work of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) to investigate Mr. Woo’s deceitful conduct, allowing our system to deliver justice.”

“Fraud schemes against the IRS will not be tolerated, as stealing from the Nation’s treasury is stealing from every American, and Woo’s sentencing today concretely shows the severity of his crime,” said Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington of IRS CI’s Houston Field Office.  “As the 2023 filing season begins, IRS-CI Special Agents remain committed to investigating, quickly stopping, and recommending for criminal prosecution all frauds against the IRS including abusive tax schemes, return preparer fraud, and stolen identity refund fraud.”

IRS CI investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Castillo prosecuted the case.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com