The NFL hasn’t had good luck lately with preliminary injunctions.
In December, the league was on the wrong side of an order blocking the suspensions of the various players who had taken StarCaps pending resolution of the lawsuit that the players had filed. More recently, the league failed again at the preliminary injunction phase, losing the ability to suspend Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams until their pending state-court lawsuit is resolved.
Yesterday, the league’s effort to finagle a preliminary injunction of its own also failed.
According to the Wilmington News Journal, Judge Gregory M. Sleet refused to block Delaware from launching its new sports betting program until the lawsuit filed by the NFL and other pro and college sports organizations has been resolved.
The ruling isn’t a surprise, given that a very high bar applies in this context. Among other things, the sports leagues needed to show that they would suffer “irreparable harm” absent preliminary relief. Judge Sleet concluded that they won’t.
Judge Sleet also point out that the attack on the Delaware gambling program is “ironic,” given that more and more NFL teams have struck sponsorship deals with state lottery commissions, and that several owners and part owners have interests in gambling establishments.
The ruling means that Delaware will be permitted to take bets unless and until the federal court hearing the case rules in favor of the NFL’s position that wagering on individual games violates the Delaware Constitution and federal law.
Trial has been set for December 7. There’s a chance that a ruling on one or more of the counts will be issued in November, via the “summary judgment” procedure, which allows cases with no key facts in dispute to be resolved without conducting a full-blown trial.
this is amazing news. screw the nfl quite frankly, lottery sponsorships area llowed, fantasy is booming on nfl.com but they dont want ppl betting [outside Vegas that is] on games?! well, the entire season is going to go by b4 this trial starts, and i couldnt be happier. and when the trial comes around, the nfl will LOSE and the fans will win.
The justice system is crooked, too. Didn’t ya’ll know that ?
I have no problem with Deleware being allowed to bet on sports, if I lived closer I would be there every weekend.
I for one hope the NFL loses the entire case
If the NFL was taking a chunk of the cash from a shakedown errr i mean cut, they woudl be singing a diff tune,
if delaware gets it, other states will follow.
i’m still wondering how the NFL has enough “say” to dictate whether a STATE OF THE UNION can allow laws governing itself.
can anyone explain *that* one to me please?