Do we have a New Jersey challenger for PASPA?
News on 4 Jul 2012
News on 4 Jul 2012
The state of New Jersey’s inexorable progress towards a challenge to the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act by allowing intrastate sports betting from Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks received a boost this week from the Monmouth Park racetrack company.
One of the problems facing state legislators and the administration, which supports the sports betting initiative, is the preparedness of a New Jersey operator to step forward and front the challenge, which will inevitably involve litigation against the federal government in the absence of a political resolution.
That company appears to be Monmouth Park, judging by a rather combative statement to New Jersey.com by Dennis Drazin, an executive of the firm, who said:
“We’re the only ones who appear willing to go forward right now. Everyone else wants to wait and see how it plays out. I’m not convinced that the NFL or the federal government will try and stop me, but we also have to anticipate that there may be an attempt for an injunction.
“If there is, though, my way of combating that would be to go right back at the NFL. It seems like they’re always talking about betting lines on football shows on TV, so the NFL is hypocritical about opposing legal sports betting here.”
