To Sports Bet or Not to Sports Bet, That is the Question

I’m not even sure William Shakespeare could have written this drama.

Currently, the acting Attorney General of New Jersey told USAToday that the state’s casinos and racetracks “are free to take sports bets without fear of state reprisal, so long as no wagering occurs on college games in New Jersey or involving in-state college teams anywhere.”

This addition is being done essentially to increase income and save the state from any more casino closures.

That seems great, but there appears to be some confusion to this blessing. The confusion is due to what former NBA star and former Senator Bill Bradley advocated, The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The act in question “limits sports gambling to the four states that had it when the law passed in 1992, meaning sports lotteries in Delaware, Oregon and Montana and licensed sports pools in Nevada.”

Current Governor Christie and his administration appear to have found a “loophole” to this act, however. According to USAToday, “The loophole is that the state can apparently deregulate gambling, rather than regulating it. The theory is that casinos and racetracks would not be licensed for sports betting but they’d be free to offer it.” Christie has even informed “prosecutors and police that casinos and tracks would not be committing a criminal offense under state law if they operated sports pools.”

This is a touchy situation to say the least. Nelson Rose, professor of law at Whittier Law School concurs, noting in the same report that “it is really quite bizarre for a governor to tell the regulated casinos and racetracks, ‘Well, we won’t enforce our anti-gambling laws and you should just go ahead and commit major federal felonies.’ I can’t imagine a federal prosecutor would agree with that interpretation.”