NJ Sports Betting Case Gets December Date In US Supreme Court

NJ Sports Betting Case Gets December Date In US Supreme Court
Dustin Gouker, October 6, 2017

The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the New Jersey sports betting case on Dec. 4.

The news on Christie vs. NCAA et al came via The Washington Post’s SCOTUS beat reporter:


Robert Barnes ✔ @scotusreporter
#scotus announce oral arguments: Cell-phone privacy Nov. 29; future of sports betting Dec. 4; wedding cakes for gay couples Dec. 5
4:03 PM - Oct 6, 2017
1 1 Reply 27 27 Retweets 17 17 likes


The NJ case at a glance

At issue is the state’s attempt to repeal its own laws in order to legalize sports betting within its borders. So far, the NCAA and the major North American pro sports leagues have turned back those efforts in federal court. They have done so by utilizing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a federal law that bans single-game sports wagering outside of Nevada.

However, the state of New Jersey won the right to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. The state is arguing that PASPA is unconstitutional, in that it forces states to keep laws on the books, even if they move to change them. (The state has a prohibition on sports betting in place; the law passed attempted to lift that ban.)

The timeline for SCOTUS and impacts

The December date sets up the court to make a decision sometime in 2018, likely in the first half of the year.
If New Jersey were to win — with SCOTUS ruling PASPA unconstitutional — it sets up a scenario where other states could legalize sports wagering. A variety of other scenarios are also possible, including a ruling more narrowly on NJ’s sports betting law or upholding the lower courts’ finding against the state.

Experts believe New Jersey has a good chance to win the case, given that SCOTUS grants appeals in only a fraction of cases and often overturns lower courts.

N.J. effort to legalize sports betting will be argued before Supreme Court on Dec. 4


The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 4 on whether New Jersey should be able to legalize sports betting even though federal law banned it 25 years ago.

The case will test whether the Constitution allows Congress to prohibit something in some states that is legal in other states. Congress banned sports betting outside Nevada in states that did not legalize it before 1993.

That case pits Gov. Chris Christie and the state's Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association against the NCAA and professional sports leagues. If the state prevails, it would open the door to state racetracks and Atlantic City casinos being able to offer Las Vegas-style bets on professional and amateur sports events.
The court decided in June it would take the case, which signaled that the arguments over federalism that New Jersey had raised with little success in lower courts were receiving a better reception on the nation's highest court.

If the court were to decide the 25-year-old Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act is is unconstitutional, any state could legalize sports betting. New Jersey voters overwhelmingly legalized sports betting in the 2012 election, but the state was immediately sued by sports leagues, which won decisions twice before the court of appeals, albeit by divided 2-1 decisions.

The 1992 federal law was sponsored by Bill Bradley, a U.S. senator from New Jersey who two decades earlier was a New York Knicks basketball star. It was unusual in that the law outlawed an activity nationwide yet "grandfathered" Nevada.

Delaware, Oregon and Montana also were granted the option of offering limited sports betting of the sort that those states had previously. Delaware, for instance, now allows NFL fans "parlay betting" — the results of three or more games are predicted, with payouts of relatively long odds offered if the fan makes every pick correctly.


www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-...ets-dec-4-hearing-n-j-sports-betti/741122001/