Decision expected on N.J. sports-gambling law

TRENTON - A decision is expected Friday on a lawsuit by the NCAA and professional sports leagues to block a New Jersey law that repeals a state ban on sports betting.

U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp gave his time frame after hearing oral arguments in Trenton. Shipp previously granted a temporary restraining order sought by the leagues, which have accused New Jersey of trying to skirt a federal law that restricts sports betting to certain states.

The state, however, points to language in a federal appellate-court decision issued last year that said New Jersey could repeal its ban.

During Thursday's oral arguments, lawyers sparred over whether a law signed by Christie in October had simply repealed the state's prohibitions on sports betting or taken steps to authorize the practice.

Jeffrey Mishkin, an attorney for the leagues - the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball - said the law "has the obvious purpose and effect of having state-enabled gambling," noting provisions to restrict betting to casinos and racetracks and prohibiting people younger than 21 from placing bets.

The law also bars wagers on college games that take place in New Jersey and any game in which a New Jersey college team participates.

Mishkin said the law was a circumvention of the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a 1992 law that confines sports betting to Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana.

But the attorney representing New Jersey, former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, said federal law permitted a repeal of the state ban - and that was all the state had done.

"What is prohibited is an affirmative act by state officials that says, I'm giving you the blessing to engage in this activity," Olson said. "And the state is not doing that."

He said the state didn't need to lift every restriction on sports betting - for example, age limits - to be in compliance with the federal law.

Other lawyers accused the leagues of hypocrisy in arguing they would be harmed by an association with sports betting.

"In Nevada, there's over 180 locations where that same activity is going on," said Ronald Riccio, an attorney for the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, which wants sports betting allowed at Monmouth Park. The racetrack put plans to take bets on hold after Shipp issued a temporary restraining order in late October.

Sports leagues don't want competition to "their fantasy-league business," Riccio said, asserting that the leagues condoned bets placed on fantasy games.

After a voter-approved measure, Christie signed legislation in 2012 that legalized sports betting, setting off a court battle that led to the leagues' winning an injunction.

On appeal, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit sided last year with the leagues. The state went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

But lawmakers seized on language in the Third Circuit's opinion that said the state could repeal its ban, leading to the measure signed last month by Christie.

The interpretation of that court opinion - the subject of debate Thursday - may wind up back in the Third Circuit: Legal observers said they expected appeals.

"Win or lose, someone's going to try to go to the Supreme Court," said Dennis Drazin, an adviser to Monmouth Park.

Drazin said the racetrack has been losing millions of dollars a year and was counting on profit from sports betting to stay open.

Proponents of sports wagering have argued it would help the state's casino industry, an issue that has taken on added importance with the recent casino closings in Atlantic City.

Lawyers for State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D., Hudson), and the U.S. Department of Justice also participated in Thursday's arguments.

Shipp, who cited "a long night" ahead of him, said he expected to issue a decision by the close of business Friday.