A step backwards for New Jersey

New Jersey’s legal battle to regulate the sports betting industry may end with bad results.

US.- The Washington Post reported yesterday that federal authorities are considering rejecting the New Jersey’s appeal to legislate the sports betting industry. The state’s administration is going through a legal battle against the big professional sports leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Yesterday it was published that the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office answered the Supreme Court’s demand of a brief on the sports betting legislation case from New Jersey, which was presented last January. According to the local newspapers, the country’s Acting Solicitor General, Jeffrey B. Wall, suggested the High Court not to ask New Jersey’s authorities for further information about the case.

The state’s government is trying to withdraw the federal injunction that eliminates the possibility of legislating sports betting industry. As Wall considered the administration has not presented enough constitutional problems to dismiss the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), the Supreme Court may soon end the legal battle by favoring the statements’ of the national professional sports leagues and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The Supreme Court had urged the Solicitor General Office a brief about the New Jersey cases, presented by Chris Christie, Governor of the state, and New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which would be benefited as operators of a legal sports betting sector.

In its brief, the Solicitor General also stated: “If New Jersey wishes to repeal its prohibition on sports gambling altogether and thereby remain silent with respect to such gambling … PASPA does not stand in its way.”