Major Sports Leagues Suing New Jersey’s Governor

After signing the legislation into law that will grant the right to place bets on sports, Chris Christie, New Jersey’s governor is being sued by the 4 biggest sports leagues in North America. The National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball League (NBA), the Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Football League (NFL) have all filed a lawsuit against Chris Christie. They have recently been joined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The Lawsuit

The major sports leagues sued the New Jersey governor because he allegedly followed a course of action that would allow casinos and race tracks to start gambling operations on both amateur and professional sports in about 2 months.

On the lawsuit, it is clearly written that “This is an action challenging New Jersey’s plan to sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license and authorise gambling on amateur and professional sports, in clear and flagrant violation of federal law. Gambling on amateur and professional sports threatens the integrity of those sports and is fundamentally at odds with the principle that the outcomes of collegiate and professional athletic contests must be determined solely on the basis of honest athletic competition.”

The Governor’s Reaction

Back in May, the New Jersey governor, Chris Christie has announced that regulations authorizing sports-betting would soon be established in the state after he signed the legislation to be in direct opposition with the Professional & Amateur Sports Promotion Act (PASPA) of 1992, which has banned the activity in every single American state besides Oregon, Nevada, Montana, and Delaware.

The Similar Lawsuit

About 3 years ago, the state of Delaware failed to legalize the right to offer more than simply parlay betting at all of its race track casinos. This attempt failed due to a similar lawsuit filed by the same 4 major sports leagues along with the NCAA. Despite all of these previous lawsuits, New Jersey’s governor seems quite positive that they will be able to countermand the PASPA bill.

Words Of Chris Christie

Even the lawsuit not being in his favor, Chris Christie remains confident that he has chances of winning this case. He even shared these few words with a local media: “I think we’re going to win. I don’t believe it’s up to the federal government to decide what happens within the borders of a state on this issue especially when they permit other states to do it.”