The US Department of Justice against New Jersey sports betting proposal

The US Department of Justice seems to be very concerned about New Jersey’s new proposal to offer sports betting inside of casinos and horse racetracks. In this case, DoJ has partnered with the major sports leagues to fight against what could be one of the greatest developments for the sports betting industry as it would allow players to have access to sports bets straight from inside of these establishments. The major sports leagues are also opposing New Jersey’s betting proposal for reasons that the press has not learned yet. Professional sports leagues state that New Jersey's proposal goes against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), that ban sports betting outside of the US states of Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon. Even when the law was redacted and passed in 1992 by the US Congress, the gambling industry in the United States still lacks of freedom. The industry has become one of the major monopolies for brick-and-mortar casino’s moguls who do not want to let this opportunity go.

But the gambling and betting industry in the United States is emerging and offers new revenues for all states and, in the last part, to the federal government. The DoJ has joined the professional sports leagues against sports betting as they both consider that it is violating 1992’s act. But this federal ban has gotten to an end after the same federal government, through District Judge Michael Shipp, decided to hold on to NJ’s sports betting proposal. The arguments that both, DoJ and professional major sports leagues, have stated are making no sense for an industry that shows games where the teams are obviously from different states. This has been the argument for New Jersey as 1992 federal ban does not include bets places on games outside of the state. New Jersey’s Senator Ray Lesniak and lawmakers have confronted the federal government by showing that the PASPA only bans states from regulating sports betting. And that is why NJ’s senators Ray Lesniak and Joseph Kyrillos will continue with NJ’s plans to develop the sports betting industry by not regulating any operation but, at the same time, not prosecuting operators for offering sports betting services.

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