[SamDiamond]

I'll say this.

New Jersey isn't giving up.

Lesniak and Senate President Steve Sweeney just introduced legislation that would no longer make it illegal to wager on sports at a Jersey Casino or Racetrack.

They clearly had this ready to go, and now...... at the press conference, Lesniak compared this to the same situation as Colorado legalizing Marijuana.

And he may have a point.

The Justice Department is not doing a single thing to Colorado with respect to buying and selling weed......I don't think they will be able to justify going after sports gambling in Jersey.

And it gets a little weird.

The United States Justice department acknowledged that PAPSA does not prevent Jersey from changing their constitution and making gambling legal, but said that would be a bad idea.

[jjgold]

This going to end in disaster like everything nj does

Why??

It's never done right as politics will ruin it.

[SamDiamond]

This going to end in disaster like everything nj does

Why??

It's never done right as politics will ruin it.

Goldie... Lesniak has a point.

How can the Feds sit and watch Colorado pass legislation making weed legal in violation of Federal Law......and not allow Jersey to do the same with sports betting?

Something is going to give here.

[MoneyLineDawg]

Atleast someone has some balls to stand up to this garbage....Even if it fails it's better than sitting back and taking it

[jjgold]

Like to see it pass though

Will be an interesting fall of it comes to be

Who runs it???

Private companies like Vegas?

[SamDiamond]

Like to see it pass though

Will be an interesting fall of it comes to be

Who runs it???

Private companies like Vegas?

That is the idea JJ....

The state could NOT promote, license, or even ackowledge it's existance.

This is from Lesniak's presser..

That "PASPA" law says that a "government entity" cannot "sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license, or authorize by law or compact" betting on professional and college sports.

Lesniak and other sports betting supporters believe that opens the door for the racetracks and casinos to offer the gambling via a private operation - one not licensed by the state per federal law.

[jjgold]

Here is the issue

What happens if Feds send letter to private company to shut it down?? It only takes pressure from some powerful organization to get ball rolling.

Weed seems very different issues and mainly hurts illegal entities . Sports betting hurts powerful people to a degree that have of pull. I think weed way more accepted also than sports betting and a lot less damaging .

[bruceBRUCEbruce]

How can the Feds sit and watch Colorado pass legislation making weed legal in violation of Federal Law......and not allow Jersey to do the same with sports betting?

unfortunately, the government frequently contradicts itself

this will be interesting for sure...

[SamDiamond]

Here is the issue

What happens if Feds send letter to private company to shut it down?? It only takes pressure from some powerful organization to get ball rolling.

Weed seems very different issues and mainly hurts illegal entities . Sports betting hurts powerful people to a degree that have of pull. I think weed way more accepted also than sports betting and a lot less damaging .

No way.

Weed is not more accepted than sports betting.....for cripes sakes, every single office in America runs a NCAA Bracket Contest.......you can't say every office in America fires up a fuking joint on National Mary Jane Day.

Betting and gambling are a part of American culture.

[jjgold]

Sammy where is the verdict??

[jjgold]

New Jersey would like to have sports betting parlors like this one in Dover, Del. (Associated Press file photo)





on June 23, 2014 at 11:00 AM, updated June 23, 2014 at 7:21 PM

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TRENTON — The U.S. Supreme Court today spurned New Jersey's long effort to legalize sports betting, handing another defeat to Gov. Chris Christie and lawmakers who view it as a way to revive Atlantic City and the state's ailing racetracks.
After being rejected twice in federal court, the state appealed to the nation's highest court in February in a last-ditch effort to overturn a 22-year-old federal law preventing New Jersey from permitting state-sanctioned sports betting at casinos and horse-racing tracks.
But the justices today declined to hear the case, allowing the lower court rulings to stand.
Christie said he was disappointed but suggested the state will now give up its two-year battle.
"It's always a long shot to get certiorati from United State Supreme Court," the Republican governor said before playing in a charity softball game at Yankee Stadium this morning. "That's the way it goes. They said no, so we have to move on."
But two leading Democratic lawmakers said they'll continue to fight. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who has led the legalization effort, introduced a bill today to sidestep the issue by repealing old state laws prohibiting sports betting at casinos and horse tracks and allowing private companies to have sports betting operations without state regulation.
Lesniak said he hopes to pass the bill soon so Monmouth Park in Oceanport can begin accepting bets by September, in time for the start of the NFL season.
"I expect that the U.S. Justice Department will refrain from intervening, as they have with Colorado and Washington when those states legalized marijuana," he said. "I plan on placing my first bet at Monmouth Racetrack on Sept. 8 for the Giants to beat the spread against the Lions on 'Monday Night Football.'"
The Justice Department did not return a message seeking comment.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) also vowed to keep fighting, saying the "economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on."
"New Jersey has been held hostage by this unfair law and the national sports associations long enough," Sweeney said.
Two of New Jersey's congressmen — U.S. Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) and Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) — issued a joint statement calling on Congress to support federal legislation to legalize sports wagering in New Jersey.
The current fight began in 2011, when New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved amending the state constitution to allow sports betting. Lawmakers passed a law allowing sports betting and Christie signed it. Under the law, people would not have been allowed to wage bets on games involving New Jersey colleges or college games played in the state.
State officials said they were trying not only to curb illegal sports betting and bring the state millions of dollars in tax revenue, but also help revive Atlantic City's 11 casinos and the state's horse tracks.
But in 2012, a group of sports organizations — the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League — sued to block the law from taking effect, saying it would harm the integrity of their sports. The U.S. Justice Department also joined the case.
They argued that New Jersey's law violated the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which Congress passed, that bars states from licensing or regulating sports betting — except for Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon, which were grandfathered under the act.
The law — sponsored by one of New Jersey's U.S. Senators at the time, former professional basketball star Bill Bradley — gave the Garden State one year to decide whether sports betting in Atlantic City would be grandfathered in, as well. But lawmakers decided against it.
Twenty-two years later, New Jersey officials have argued the federal law is unfair and unconstitutional because it violates states' rights.
But a U.S. District Court ruled against the state last February. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld that ruling in September.
The state has spent millions in taxpayer money fighting the case, including $3.1 million to outside law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher — the same firm Christie hired to conduct his office's internal investigation into the George Washington Bridge scandal.
Lesniak said one reason to keep fighting is because Atlantic City's future depends on sports wagering.
"This is, quite frankly, their only hope," Lesniak said. "They're going to continue to decline. We will continue to lose jobs."
He added that he was disappointed the Supreme Court "would allow Las Vegas to be jam-packed (with bets) during the Super Bowl and Final Four weekend, while Atlantic City is a ghost town."
But Lesniak said the U.S. Justice Department left the door open for New Jersey to offer sports betting via a private operation — and not licensed by the state.
In legal briefs, the department said federal law "does not even obligate New Jersey to leave in place the state-law prohibitions against sports gambling that it had chosen to adopt prior to PASPA's enactment. To the contrary, New Jersey is free to repeal those prohibitions in whole or in part."
Thus, Lesniak said his new bill would repeal state laws prohibiting sports betting that went into effect before the federal law did.
"They invited us to do this," Lesniak said. "They said, 'We're not interfering with state's rights. Go right ahead.' It's a bizarre argument."

[cecil127]

Delaware is 3 team parlay (min) only...sucks.

[jjgold]

Lesniak's bill might not even pass

This is a tremendous longshot if their is sports betting in September in New Jersey

[anthonydiamondLC]

I mean technically if you read the law it really doesn't say anything about a private entity running it. I don't really see how the Justice Department can step in if NJ isn't breaking any laws. It's just a weird loophole that Jersey is gonna exploit. I give them a lot of credit for doing this when nobody else seems to want to get involved. It's this type of movement that will get this legalized nationwide. If this does work Monmouth Park is gonna make bank this football season.

[TheLock]

No way.

Weed is not more accepted than sports betting.....for cripes sakes, every single office in America runs a NCAA Bracket Contest.......you can't say every office in America fires up a fuking joint on National Mary Jane Day.

Betting and gambling are a part of American culture.

Sports betting does not have several documented health benefits, though.

[Mac4Lyfe]

It's all about the money. Ironic that the NFL, NCAA, etc., don't want sports betting as they rake in all the loot.

[BriGuy]

I just can't understand why they don't just push a bill through Congress that changes PAPSA. They should create a Federal Law allowing every individual state to make their own rules. Even the states that don't have gambling (what few remaining there are) lose nothing by turning this into a states' rights issue and there are no fewer than a dozen states that would LOVE a bill to make this change. The only loser is Nevada.

[matrix1022]

My friends and I where down at Monmouth park with partnership of building . The ownership said they will not stop with there plans to have nfl betting by the first week of the season . Regardless of what any firm against them tries stop them from doing business .

[jjgold]

I think someday maybe 5 to 10 years you will see in New Jersey but you will not see it now

If Monmouth does put it in September I would think it's going to shut down very very quickly

I will still be surprised if they find a private firm that's going to take the risk and excepting bets as they could lose everything if the feds decided to make an example out of them

[matrix1022]

Nope. It would take lots of time to shit them down. They are going ahead with it . MP is in tight with state with money

[harthebar]

i dont get this,, someone explain, im at work dont have time to read it all, just make it simple......they got denied, but they are going to do it ???

[matrix1022]

Yes they will do it first week of nfl ! At Monmouth park !

[jjgold]

No college?

[BriGuy]

i dont get this,, someone explain, im at work dont have time to read it all, just make it simple......they got denied, but they are going to do it ???

The federal government denied them, but they are hoping that if they do it anyway, the federal government won't enforce the law the same way marijuana is against federal law but the federal government doesn't enforce that law in Colorado.

[OMGRandyJackson]

New Jersey needs this. They will push this very hard. Atlantic City has already seen 3 casinos close this year.