It's time for legal sports betting to come to New Jersey.

There's wide bipartisan support for gambling on professional sports. Voters even passed a constitutional amendment allowing the wagering and laws are in place to allow it.

One of the only holdups remains the courts.

Oh, there's also one other little problem — federal law bans legal gambling on professional sports in all but four states including Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon.

Late Friday U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp ruled in favor of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and NCAA — all which oppose the betting in New Jersey — favoring them in the lawsuit they filed. The organizations reportedly claimed in their suit that the state's plan would hurt the integrity of their games.

After the ruling, the state filed a notice in the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals that it would challenge Shipp's decision, another in many legal maneuverings which has.

Allowing sports betting here only makes sense. The cut our struggling casinos and tracks would get is much-needed as they face growing competition from nearby states (including Delaware).

Gov. Chris Christie and other top lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are also squarely behind the plan.

"The economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on," said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd Dist. on Friday after Shipp's ruling was announced.

Sweeney's college in the Legislature, Assemblyman John Burzichelli, also D-3rd Dist., agrees.

"To suggest that it's not happening simply because that particular judge doesn't think it should is naive," Burzichelli said in a interview after Shipp's decision.

"Our constitution has been corrected with respect to an amendment that says this should be legal in the state and we maintain this is a state's rights issue."

Most Americans also back sports betting.

A Seton Hall Sports Poll found of its 847 adults surveyed across the U.S., 55 percent said it should be legal, while 33 percent disagreed. Thirteen percent said they didn't know or had no opinion.

In the same poll, 66 percent said they think sports betting should be regulated on a state-by-state basis, 29 percent said it should be the responsibility of the federal government, and 10 percent said they didn't know or had no opinion.

And while we support enabling legal betting on pro sports in our state, we also recognize that there is the danger some can become addicted to gambling. We already have plenty of state-sanctioned lottery games, racetracks and the Atlantic City casinos and now even online gambling. There are already plenty of games to tempt the weak and any legalization of new gambling must come with the clear warnings of the danger that these "games" represent.

Legal or not, it's no secret that plenty of wagering on professional sports already goes on and will continue in the Garden State.

It's time New Jersey made it so the state and its struggling casinos and racetracks can reap the benefits.

This is a reprint from nj.com. to view the original, click here.