Sports Betting Exchange A.C.

Betting has been around forever.  Sports betting is the natural progression for people who love a sport but can’t play.  It allows them to have some vested interest in the outcome of the game.

In 1992 the Congress passed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act to ban all sports betting in the states that did not already accept it.  Three states were exempt because they had it in some form.  New Jersey had the ability to allow it Sports betting within their borders but voters turned down the amendment.  This closed the loop hole and gave Vegas a monopoly in the United States.

Now NJ has passed SCR 132, a bill that would amend the New Jersey constitution “to permit the legislature to authorize sports wagering at Atlantic City casinos.”

This is of course if a successful lawsuit overturns the 1992 Pro-Am Sports Protection Act.

NJ has recently lost a suit with their multi prong approach.  They claimed that PASPA violates these constitutional provisions: (1) the Commerce Clause; (2) the First Amendment’s protection of expression and assembly; (3) the Tenth Amendment; (4) the Eleventh Amendment; (5) the Due Process Clause; and (6) the Equal Protection Clause.

Chief Judge Brown ruled that the plaintiff trade associations were found to have no standing on this basis.

So how did we get to this point? Obviously in 1992 Sports betting was not as popular as it was now with the age of the internet.  Things have changed.  The question is, “Why can’t a state that has approved sports betting within it’s borders be allowed to offer it’s residents sports betting?”

As NJ did try to argue there case with a multi-pronged approach, what is the best angle NJ should use now? All of their arguments have logical paths, but one has to keep in mind that they all point to one direction.  They all come back to states rights.  When all of the arguments are boiled down, they come back to either the individual having their own rights or having rights within a states borders.  The Commerce Clause has often been used by federal government as a means to control all means of commerce.

The fact remains that NJ residents has passed a resolution to allow sports betting within their borders.  How can a Federal Government stop that state from doing something within their borders if other states are allowed to generate tax revenue?

Our opinion is that it is only a matter of time.  Sports betting will be done within NJ at some point.  One caveat is that pro and collegiate sports played in NJ will not be allowed to be bet on.  I think that is stupid but if that is how naive our legislation is then so be it.  Let’s take what we can get and live to fight another day.