State continues dogged pursuit of sports betting

By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer

OCEANPORT — Proponents of sports betting have already begun the next play after being sacked by the court again earlier this month.

Dennis Drazin, adviser to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, operator of Monmouth Park, said the state has filed a petition asking the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals to hear arguments for the legalization of sports betting in front of all 23 judges.

“What will happen now is there will be a vote by the active sitting judges at the Third Circuit level to determine whether or not they will hear the case ‘en banc’,” Drazin said.

In an Aug. 25 ruling, two of a threejudge Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled in favor of the four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA that New Jersey’s 2014 law deregulating sports wagering violates federal law.

Drazin said 11 judges would now decide whether or not to grant the latest petition.

If the court decides to hear the case, then all 23 Third Circuit judges would be asked to hear the case.

In both situations, all the state will need is a simple majority to prevail.

Drazin estimated it would be three to four weeks before the court makes a decision on whether to hear the case brought by the New Jersey Governor’s Office.

The state also petitioned the full court in 2012 in a previous attempt to legalize sports betting after an appellate panel ruled against the state, but the request was denied.

According to Drazin, the common thread between the two failed attempts to legalize sports betting is Judge Julio Fuentes, who ruled against the state during the first attempt but submitted the dissenting opinion in the most recent decision.

“The reason we think there is a basis for it is, you have two panels sitting on the same level that issued inconsistent decisions,” Drazin said.

Just days after Gov. Chris Christie signed a new bill into law in 2014 allowing sports wagering, the NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and Major League Baseball filed suit to stop Monmouth Park from accepting wagers on sporting events.

On Nov. 21, a federal judge upheld the federal ban on sports wagering, leading to the state’s appeal to the Third Circuit.

The Third Circuit also shot down a 2012 state law legalizing sports betting; with both rulings claiming the laws violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which bars sports betting in all but four states.

The main difference between the two attempts to legalize sports wagering is in the first attempt the state was sponsoring the activity, while the most recent state law would deregulate the practice and allow the state’s racetracks and casinos to operate sports betting operations.

Despite trying a new tactic in the pursuit to legalize sports betting, Drazin said even if successful in court, the timeline would delay sports betting past the lucrative football betting season.

“This time it took three judges several months to write an opinion so we will certainly miss this year’s football season,” he said.

Drazin also said if the petition for an “en banc” hearing is unsuccessful he expects to petition the case up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which the state also attempted and was rejected in 2012.

He also said if that attempt is not successful the fate of sports betting may lie on the United States Congress.

“Congress may be the only place to resolve it, but it just seems Congress doesn’t have this high on the priority list,” Drazin said. “We’ve had bills pending for years.”

Monmouth Park’s development plans — including an indoor water park, hotel and other amenities — are tied to the additional revenues projected from sports betting.

Drazin has estimated that $1 billion would be wagered each year at Monmouth Park if sports betting were legalized. That could net $75 million in annual revenue for the racetrack, which is Oceanport’s largest taxpayer.

The federal government banned sports betting in 1992, and states were given a window of a year to legalize it. Only Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon chose to do so.

Of the four states currently exempt, only Nevada has large-scale sports betting, while the other three states currently have limited wagering.