New Jersey back in the sports betting business

The US state of New Jersey keeps challenging the US federal government, in the better possible way. After New Jersey Governor Chris Christie allowed last year the practice of sports betting only in those Garden State casinos and horserace tracks, the betting sports market started to establish itself as one of the most secure and profitable industries in the state. This did not last too long as the US federal government put a ban on the online sports betting on October 2014. The Garden State, one of the main gambling states in the country, could not believe that the major sports US leagues wanted the online sports betting operators to stay away as far as possible to prevent fraud and match-fixing issues. The major sports US leagues are accusing the online betting operators of bringing corruption into the games while we all know that the major sports leagues in the United States are already being investigated for allowing several irregularities.

New Jersey, one of the main driving forces of the online gambling industry in the United States, has already had enough of prohibitions and bans. The Garden State is one of the main gambling states in the country, with Atlantic City as the main gambling city, a gaming icon from the last century. The horserace tracks are another of the appealing for gamblers to visit New Jersey; and all this made New Jersey go against the US Federal Government and its ban as the state is claiming its rights to offer sports betting services at racetracks and casinos. New Jersey’s point is that the major sports US leagues do not want these online betting operators but they are ok with Fantasy Sports operators. Fantasy Football operators are still offering betting services through their sites for football games and, allowing that at the same time that condemning the online betting market is, in words of New Jersey, a double standards business strategy.

New Jersey has decided to get back to sports leagues. On Wednesday of this week, the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association filed a case to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that fantasy sports operators are offering sports betting services: “The Leagues sponsor, promote, invest in, profit from, and own sports betting business enterprises that engage in the very kinds of sports betting activities the Leagues claim irreparably harm them and, thus, entitle them to an injunction. Because of their unclean hands, rooted in their hypocrisy, the District Court should not have entertained the Leagues’ request for an injunction. Instead, the courthouse doors should have been closed to the Leagues.”