N.J. sports betting: Experts split on whether bets will begin this weekend



What are the odds that Monmouth Park will begin taking bets this weekend as the first venue in New Jersey to offer legalized sports wagering?

What are the odds that Monmouth Park will begin taking bets this weekend as the first venue in New Jersey to offer legalized sports wagering?

It depends on whom you ask.

Legal experts are split on whether a federal judge will grant a request by four professional sports leagues and the NCAA to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the Oceanport horse-racing track from accepting bets starting Sunday.

Monmouth Park is the first place scheduled to begin offering wagering after Gov. Chris Christie signed a law Friday paving the way for legal sports betting at New Jersey's tracks and casinos by repealing an old state ban.

But the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA β€” which have fought Christie's administration for years over wagering β€” filed a lawsuit this week saying the new law violates a federal ban on sports betting. They also asked Federal District Court Judge Michael A. Shipp to agree to the restraining order to stop Monmouth Park from beginning this weekend and then for a temporary injunction to keep betting from continuing before the entire case is decided.

It is unclear if Shipp will take up this issue this week, though he is likely to rule on the restraining order before the weekend.

Daniel Wallach, a gaming and sports law attorney in Florida, said there's a "very low likelihood" that Monmouth Park will start Sunday.

"Not only do the leagues present a very compelling argument that what is going on here is de facto regulations, but the judge will likely put in a placeholder until he has a hearing," Wallach said Wednesday.

A. Jeff Ifrah, a gaming attorney in Washington D.C., disagrees, noting that the leagues need to prove that betting this Sunday will cause them irreparable harm.

"If you honestly look at this, there is no basis to grant the league emergency relief," Ifrah said. "They are essentially asking the judge to prejudge the case, so their basis has to be really, really strong."

This is the latest chapter in New Jersey's ongoing battle to make sports betting legal β€” a move many lawmakers say is crucial to helping revive the struggling Atlantic City.

New Jerseyans voted in 2011 to legalize sports wagering and Christie signed it into law a year later. But the sports leagues sued, saying betting threatens the integrity of their games and violates a 1992 federal law that bans sports wagering in all but four states.

Shipp ruled in favor of the leagues last year, saying betting could hurt their reputations, and issued an injunction preventing the law from being implemented. The state appealed, and an appellate court upheld the ruling.

But the appellate decision noted that nothing prevented the state from repealing its own ban on sports betting. Thus, the law Christie signed last week simply strips the state ban and allows for private companies to set up sports betting operations without state regulation.

The leagues argued in the lawsuit they filed this week that repealing those laws is "nothing more than a de facto authorization of sports gambling."

In court papers filed Wednesday in response to the leagues, Christie's administration stressed that the federal ban "does not require New Jersey to maintain its prohibition of sports wagering."

Dennis Drazin, an attorney for Monmouth Park, said Wednesday he's "very confident" Shipp will side with the track and that betting will begin as scheduled.

Spokesmen for Christie's office and the state Attorney General's office declined comment. Attorneys for the sports leagues have not returned calls seeking comment.

Wallach said the fact that Shipp sided with the leagues before suggests he'll do so again.

"The harm to the league would be greater than to Monmouth Park," the attorney said. "That's a pretty easy demonstration to make."

Lloyd Levenson, an Atlantic City attorney that represents casinos, said it's difficult to predict what Shipp will decide.

"That's the $64,000 question," Levenson said.

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


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