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On Monday, Christie said he’d authorized acting state Attorney General John Hoffman to issue a directive saying casinos and tracks could start offering legal wagers as soon as they were physically
capable of doing so. The only caveat Christie gave was that the casino and tracks don’t take wagers on collegiate sporting events taking place within the state or involving a New Jersey college team playing beyond state borders.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has officially authorized Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks to begin offering legal Sports Betting, reversing the stance Christie took just one month ago
when he vetoed a bill that would have allowed an identical betting regime.
SO WHO SPIKED CHRISTIE’S GATORADE?
Christie said he’d taken his cue from statements made during the state’s lengthy court fight with the US Department of Justice, four pro sports leagues and the NCAA, in which the state was told that there was nothing in the 1992 federal PASPA Sports Betting prohibition preventing the state from simply choosing not to enforce its own anti-betting laws.
But those exact same statements were the foundation on which Lesniak’s latest bill was crafted, leaving open the question as to what happened since the August veto to change Christie’s mind.
It probably didn’t hurt that Adam Silver, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, one of the leagues that fought New Jersey’s Sports Betting push, publicly stated last Thursday that
the spread of legal sports bets across the US was “inevitable” and that the NBA would benefit from this spread.
But Christie’s change of heart likely came from his political need to be seen to be doing something to arrest the state’s economic slide. Christie’s news came the same day he convened a summit of the
state’s gaming stakeholders to discuss ways of changing the doom-and-gloom narrative that has seen three AC casinos close their doors this year, with a fourth casino scheduled to do so next week
and a fifth threatening to do so before the year’s end.
The casino closures will put around 10k workers on the dole, which will have a ripple effect on other area businesses. Christie was also facing the slim possibility that state legislators –
who’d overwhelmingly supported Lesniak’s most recent legislation – had scheduled a Sept. 22 vote on whether to override Christie’s veto, which would have marked the first such open
revolt during Christie’s tenure as governor.
SOURCE -FULL STORY
capable of doing so. The only caveat Christie gave was that the casino and tracks don’t take wagers on collegiate sporting events taking place within the state or involving a New Jersey college team playing beyond state borders.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has officially authorized Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks to begin offering legal Sports Betting, reversing the stance Christie took just one month ago
when he vetoed a bill that would have allowed an identical betting regime.
SO WHO SPIKED CHRISTIE’S GATORADE?
Christie said he’d taken his cue from statements made during the state’s lengthy court fight with the US Department of Justice, four pro sports leagues and the NCAA, in which the state was told that there was nothing in the 1992 federal PASPA Sports Betting prohibition preventing the state from simply choosing not to enforce its own anti-betting laws.
But those exact same statements were the foundation on which Lesniak’s latest bill was crafted, leaving open the question as to what happened since the August veto to change Christie’s mind.
It probably didn’t hurt that Adam Silver, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, one of the leagues that fought New Jersey’s Sports Betting push, publicly stated last Thursday that
the spread of legal sports bets across the US was “inevitable” and that the NBA would benefit from this spread.
But Christie’s change of heart likely came from his political need to be seen to be doing something to arrest the state’s economic slide. Christie’s news came the same day he convened a summit of the
state’s gaming stakeholders to discuss ways of changing the doom-and-gloom narrative that has seen three AC casinos close their doors this year, with a fourth casino scheduled to do so next week
and a fifth threatening to do so before the year’s end.
The casino closures will put around 10k workers on the dole, which will have a ripple effect on other area businesses. Christie was also facing the slim possibility that state legislators –
who’d overwhelmingly supported Lesniak’s most recent legislation – had scheduled a Sept. 22 vote on whether to override Christie’s veto, which would have marked the first such open
revolt during Christie’s tenure as governor.
SOURCE -FULL STORY
