Says Finish Line is Near for Legal Sports Wagering in New Jersey
TRENTON – Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union, the lead sponsor of measures to legalize sports wagering in the Garden State and the person behind the State’s legal challenge to the federal sports wagering ban, issued the following statement today regarding the Christie Administration’s announcement of regulations to govern sports wagering in New Jersey:
“The move today by the Christie Administration represents one of the final steps in our long journey towards the repeal of an unfair, and ultimately, unconstitutional ban on sports wagering which gives four states a monopoly on the market to the detriment of New Jerseyans and the rest of the country.
“We passed the ballot question in the Legislature. Voters approved the referendum by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. We passed enabling legislation. The Governor, recognizing the will of the public, signed it into law. And now that the regulations have been put forward, there’s only one step left – a showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court, where I believe we will prevail.
“To those with a vested interest in the status quo – the professional sports organizations who take a hypocritical stance that wagering will ‘ruin the purity of the game,’ and the Nevada-based gaming conglomerates that have enjoyed that state’s stranglehold on sports wagering for the last twenty years – I respectfully say, ‘Bring it on.’ The sooner you make an issue of New Jersey’s noncompliance with an unconstitutional federal ban, the sooner we can defeat that ban in the courts, and put New Jersey on the same competitive footing as the rest of the nation when it comes to sports wagering.”