Two of the country’s best lawyers will square off in the New Jersey sports betting battle between the state and the major sports leagues.
New Jersey is making a bid for sports gambling in its casinos and race tracks while the major sports leagues are trying to stop the state
The lawyer for New Jersey is Ted Olson, and the attorney hired by the sports leagues is Paul Clement. The Press of Atlantic City describes the matchup of heavyweight lawyers.
New Jersey contends that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that bans sports betting in all but four states is unconstitutional.
The major sports leagues and the NCAA are fighting to keep legalized sports gambling from spreading and are challenging New Jersey’s sports betting plans in a federal suit.
Photo: Ted Olson, and Paul Clement. Credit, Wikimedia Commons.
Here’s hoping the legal challenge goes down. The leagues, particularly the NFL, have such hypocritical positions on this. Betting is already happening on a massive scale — and all those dollars being wagered simply increase interest in the games. Even the world’s biggest sports fan gets more engaged when money is on the line. If the NFL could find a way to take a piece of the action, the money grubbers in charge would be all over it.
Voters favor legalization. The big man signed the bill. The leagues have no business blocking this. Place your bets, oh wait, you already do that with your bookie.
Goodell should stick to fining/suspending players for playing the game the way fans want it to be played.