Major sports leagues reach settlement with NJTHA

Four major leagues have reached an agreement with the NJTHA after a lengthy legal battle following an attempt to launch sports betting in 2014.

US.- Four major sports leagues and a college sports regulatory body have reached a settlement with the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NJTHA) have reached an agreement after a six-year legal battle.

A three-page “stipulation and order” signed by US District Court Chief Judge Freda Wolfson on Monday rules that the NJTHA is entitled to a $3.4m settlement in exchange for dropping its legal case.

The NJTHA was demanding $150m from the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL along with the college sports regulatory body, the NCAA, for alleged damages suffered in 2014 when New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack first attempted to launch sports betting while the federal ban on the activity was still in place.

The horsemen’s association sought to recover a $3.4m escrow bond put up by the leagues. The bond was designed to cover revenue losses for a one-month period when Monmouth was subject to a court injunction barring sports betting at the start of the civil case.

The leagues were able to convince a judge to issue a restraining order to stop Monmouth from offering sports betting while the federal case was being litigated.

The NJTHA argued in court that the restraining order was requested in bad faith since the leagues were allegedly already endorsing businesses that made millions from fantasy sports games that depended on individual player performances.

In 2018, after the US Supreme Court quashed the federal law banning sports betting, the NJTHA claimed it had missed out on revenues for the four year period since 2014.

The next year, the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the association, finding that it was entitled to receive damages but amounts were not specified. 

A judge has now ruled that the horsemen’s association is entitled to collect on the $3.4m bond in exchange for dropping its case.