New Jersey spends $8.6m on sports betting

The state has spent US$8.6 million on legal bills in its attempts to legalise sports betting in the US.

US.- According to invoices and information obtained by US-website Observer through a public records request with the New Jersey Division of Law, the state of New Jersey has spent US$8.6 million in legal bills fighting to legalise sports gambling.

The information showed that two private law firms with connections to former Governor Chris Christie combined to bill US$8.66 million since 2012. The legal costs are part of a five year-effort to bring sports betting to the state’s casinos and racetrack.

According to New Jersey Division of Law, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has billed more than US$7 million to represent Christie from October 2012 to November 2017, but that doesn’t include the oral argument that took place before the Supreme Court in December.

A second law firm called Gibbons P.C. has billed US$1.5 million to represent the state legislature from December 2012 to February 2018, according to invoices from the Senate Majority Office. Gibbons P.C. also billed US$77k to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority from November 2014 to January 2015.

PASPA, a sports protection act that was passed in 1992, prevents states from offering gambling lines on sports. Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana were granted special exemptions, as all four of those states were offering some variation of sports lotteries back in 1992. As New Jersey has taken the demand to the Court, a national approval of sports betting is a serious possibility.

Last week, representatives from the NBA, MLB and the PGA Tour testified during a session in Illinois that they support the regulation of sports betting in a responsible way. Dan Spillane, representing the National Basketball Association (NBA) said that while the NBA had previously opposed the expansion of sports betting in the United States, the entity studied the issue and that “the time has come for sports fans to bet in a safe way.”