Christie signs bill allowing sports betting in New Jersey

Posted by PlexusGroupe on October 17, 2014, 8:17 PM EDT
AP

New Jersey hasn’t given up on its sports betting dreams.

On Friday, Governor Chris Christie signed a new sports wagering bill into law, and the Monmouth Park horse racing track in Oceanport announced it would begin taking bets on Sunday, October 26.

In a statement released by Christie’s office Friday, the governor said the bill “closely adheres to controlling federal law.”

The federal law in question is the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, passed in 1992. The law has effectively limited sports betting to a few states, with Nevada the only state that’s been able to offer single-game wagering.

That Monmouth would plan to start taking sports wagers on a Sunday shouldn’t come as any surprise. The ability to legally wager on NFL games figures to fuel a good deal of the public interest in sports betting in the state.

However, New Jersey might not be home free just yet. The NFL has more than a week to legally challenge New Jersey’s betting plans, something it successfully did just last year in conjunction with other athletic leagues and governing bodies, including the NCAA and NBA.

The NFL declined comment Friday night about New Jersey’s designs on sports betting.

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30 responses to “Christie signs bill allowing sports betting in New Jersey”

  1. The NFL is run by the betting industry.

    I guess it doesn’t want its hegemony disturbed.

  2. Christie always the “innovator” trying to bring in revenue anyway sorted way he can as Atlantic City turned into a “box car on fire” during his watch. Sports betting is a pittance compared to the gaming revenue he flushed while he watched Atlantic City burn.

  5. This will certainly help out the already struggling Atlantic City casinos.

    Other teams fans envy our teams players. Other teams players envy our teams fans.
    #12thmanisheretostay #dynastybeforeyoureyes #kissthering

  7. A lot of people hear the word gambling associated with sports and automatically assume corruption….. But if done right and out in the open, then you avoid that. Sports betting is more beneficial to pro sports than it is negative. If you can bet on it, then you better believe that they will watch it. And you’d be dumb to think that the NFL isn’t as popular as it is today without sports betting. It has played a large role in NFL popularity whether reported by media or not.

  8. arnoldziffel says: Oct 17, 2014 8:40 PM

    Something else for dad to do with the family paycheck … thanks Captain Beef Heart.

    If dad is going to blow the paycheck on legal sports betting chances are he is already blowing it on illegal sports betting.

  12. NFL will be fully behind it once they can get a piece of the action. They are already behind the daily sports gambling sites because these sites have to pay the NFL.

  14. If the NFL tries to show that it is damaged by this law to get it blocked, I hope a judge asks why the NFL approves of “betting” on individual players in Fantasy Football, but are against people betting on the entire team? I would love to hear their answer on record. After the past few months it’s also gonna be hard for the NFL to get the public to listen to their, ” integrity of the game” argument.

  19. Wouldn’t that mean that the NFL and Nevada represent a monopoly in sports gambling, and therefore illegal? Here’s hoping NJ wins, not because I gamble, but because I’d like to see the NFL lose.

  21. He’s a Cowboys fan and that alone should have disqualified him from assuming public office in New Jersey.

  22. I doubt the NBA is going to get involved trying to stop this. Adam Silver has said he knows gambling helps the sports popularity. If the NFL could face facts and realize that 99% of people watching are financially committed to it (fantasy, wagers, office pools etc.) they would also realize more gambling would increase popularity. These leagues need to realize the only reason they can put an NFL game on on a Thursday, or Monday, or a College game on a Tuesday night and get people to watch is because of the point spread.

  24. Gambling is somehow terrible for the game, but NFL-based Lotto cards

    You make a good point, if it’s good enough for the government to do it with their lottery scams, then why not everyone else?

    I don’t personally gamble and I don’t recommend anyone else should.

    But that doesn’t mean comrade government should have laws against it.

  26. fat boy is an idiot. he hastened the ruin of atlantic city, his solution to the pension issue is to cut cost of living to retirees and not contribute to the shortfall. watch out for your social security when he gets nominated…..

  27. Atlantic City use to be fun to visit but now its just new casinos that go broke or there just old people casinos. Once in a while I’ll go for free crab legs from my parents’ comps but thats about it. AC needs sports betting.

  29. Political posturing…He tried this and failed after the leagues sued…After this is blocked, he’ll do it again and again, and say “look, I tried and will keep fighting, re-elect me!”

  30. To think that a player could be influenced to “throw” a game i laughable.

    First of all, it’s a team game, if you paid a QB to throw picks or something he will get pulled.

    Second, they player make WAY to much money to be able to influence them. the amount you would have to pay a player to make it worth it to them, then in turn bet to make up for what you paid them would cause a huge red flag when the action started popping up strangley on a game. This is how the Maryland point shaving scheme got blown open years ago.

    the only person that you maybe could afford to pay off is a ref, and the thing is if someone was gonna buy an offical the allready own him as they suddenly are not going to start when gambling is made legal.

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