It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is making a last ditch attempt to save legal sports betting in the state by elevating their case before the Supreme Court (SC) two days after the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the sports betting law, according to digital news NJ.com.
Believing that they will never got a fair trial in the Third Circuit, Christie wants to take his legal battle to the SC. He, however, conceded that such a move is a “long shot” since the SC only accepts 1 percent of petitions.
“I think we go to the Supreme Court,” he said during the “Boomer & Carton” sports-talk radio show on WFAN-660 AM, which the news agency quoted. “There’s only one step left: the United States Supreme Court.”
On Tuesday, nearly six months after the state squared off in the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals against the federal government, four major pro sports leagues and the NCAA, the Court issued a 10-2 ruling against New Jersey’s 2014 plan to offer legal sports betting at Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks.
But the Republican Party attack dog has lashed out at the members of the Third Circuit for being alleged tools of President Barack Obama in taking away rights from a state. Incidentally, one of the members of the Third Circuit was Maryanne Trump Barry, sister of Republican Presidential Donald Trump.
“This is the long arm of Barack Obama’s federal government, where he takes away rights from a state,” the governor said of the Democratic president. “A state should be able to decide whether or not they want to have this in the state. If they want to have it, they should be able to have it.”
Christie also did not mince words against the top US professional sports leagues – the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL – for running to court in order to stop them from legalizing sports betting.
It would be recalled that the four professional sports leagues as well as the NCAA have been successful in stopping the State of New Jersey from ratifying legal sports wagering since voters approved it in 2011. The sports teams claim that betting would hurt the integrity of their games and is in violation of a 1992 federal ban on sports betting.
“With the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NHL, the NCAA, they’re all making money off fantasy sports — they’re investing in it,” the Republican governor said on Wednesday’s radio show. “They go to court and they try to stop us in New Jersey from legalizing what is happening every Sunday — illegal bookmakers in the mafia. They’d rather have them do it.”
“They think that having mafia people and illegal betting is somehow safer than having legalized betting for the integrity of the game,” Christie added. “It’s insane.”
