Posted on Fri, Feb. 8, 2008
Sports-betting measure advances
The Assembly wants voters to decide. Federal law bans sports gambling here.
By Joseph A. Gambardello
Inquirer Staff Writer
TRENTON - The state Assembly yesterday approved a measure that asks New Jersey voters to allow Atlantic City casinos to take bets on professional sporting events.
Before the vote, the bill's sponsors promised to amend the measure to possibly include sports wagering at the state's ailing racetracks if it passed in the Senate, which has not yet taken up the issue.
The Assembly voted 58-17 to approve the bill, even though federal law limits sports betting or lotteries to four states: Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon.
Despite the obstacle of federal law, one of the bill's sponsors, Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D., Cape May), said: "The people of New Jersey deserve at least a chance to vote on this issue."
If approved and signed into law, the question would be placed on November's ballot.
Expressions of support for allowing sports gambling at racetracks came after the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association came out against the bill.
The sponsor of the Senate version, Sen. Ray Lesniak (D., Union), also has indicated a desire to see sports gambling at tracks to shore up the $1.5 billion horse-racing industry.
The effort to legalize sports gambling - which is opposed by the NFL - comes at a time when slots parlors in Delaware and Pennsylvania are cutting into Atlantic City's take.
Proponents argue that Atlantic City could reap about $800 million a year from sports gambling, a fraction of the estimated $80 billion or more wagered illegally each year in the United States.
The state could have avoided this situation if it had taken advantage of a window in the federal law that was passed in 1992 and permitted sports gambling or lotteries in the states where it already existed.
Under the act, which was sponsored by then-U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey and supported by professional sports, any state that had allowed casino gambling for 10 years prior to Jan. 1, 1993, could pass a sports-wagering law within a year. But New Jersey did not act in time.
The Assembly vote yesterday was the furthest a sports-gambling measure had advanced in the Legislature since the Senate passed a bill in 1993.
State Sen. Jim Whelan, chairman of the Senate Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee, whose district includes Atlantic City, said he supported sports gambling and did not have a problem moving the bill forward in the Senate.
"The big obstacle to making it a reality, though, is the federal ban on sports betting . . . which won't go away just by our passing a bill in the Statehouse," he said.
"I believe New Jersey voters would support having state-regulated sports betting in casinos, but I don't want to create false hopes," Whelan said.
To remove the obstacle, the state can either push Congress to repeal the ban or challenge it in court as a violation of states' rights.
In urging support for the bill on the floor, Assemblyman Louis Burzichelli (D., Gloucester), a cosponsor, noted that voters would be passing judgment on sports wagering in time to send a message to a new administration in Washington.
Sports-betting measure advances
The Assembly wants voters to decide. Federal law bans sports gambling here.
By Joseph A. Gambardello
Inquirer Staff Writer
TRENTON - The state Assembly yesterday approved a measure that asks New Jersey voters to allow Atlantic City casinos to take bets on professional sporting events.
Before the vote, the bill's sponsors promised to amend the measure to possibly include sports wagering at the state's ailing racetracks if it passed in the Senate, which has not yet taken up the issue.
The Assembly voted 58-17 to approve the bill, even though federal law limits sports betting or lotteries to four states: Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon.
Despite the obstacle of federal law, one of the bill's sponsors, Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D., Cape May), said: "The people of New Jersey deserve at least a chance to vote on this issue."
If approved and signed into law, the question would be placed on November's ballot.
Expressions of support for allowing sports gambling at racetracks came after the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association came out against the bill.
The sponsor of the Senate version, Sen. Ray Lesniak (D., Union), also has indicated a desire to see sports gambling at tracks to shore up the $1.5 billion horse-racing industry.
The effort to legalize sports gambling - which is opposed by the NFL - comes at a time when slots parlors in Delaware and Pennsylvania are cutting into Atlantic City's take.
Proponents argue that Atlantic City could reap about $800 million a year from sports gambling, a fraction of the estimated $80 billion or more wagered illegally each year in the United States.
The state could have avoided this situation if it had taken advantage of a window in the federal law that was passed in 1992 and permitted sports gambling or lotteries in the states where it already existed.
Under the act, which was sponsored by then-U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey and supported by professional sports, any state that had allowed casino gambling for 10 years prior to Jan. 1, 1993, could pass a sports-wagering law within a year. But New Jersey did not act in time.
The Assembly vote yesterday was the furthest a sports-gambling measure had advanced in the Legislature since the Senate passed a bill in 1993.
State Sen. Jim Whelan, chairman of the Senate Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee, whose district includes Atlantic City, said he supported sports gambling and did not have a problem moving the bill forward in the Senate.
"The big obstacle to making it a reality, though, is the federal ban on sports betting . . . which won't go away just by our passing a bill in the Statehouse," he said.
"I believe New Jersey voters would support having state-regulated sports betting in casinos, but I don't want to create false hopes," Whelan said.
To remove the obstacle, the state can either push Congress to repeal the ban or challenge it in court as a violation of states' rights.
In urging support for the bill on the floor, Assemblyman Louis Burzichelli (D., Gloucester), a cosponsor, noted that voters would be passing judgment on sports wagering in time to send a message to a new administration in Washington.
