Judge Shipp does it again

The state of New Jersey looks set to return to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals following another adverse decision from Judge Michael Shipp Friday as the state battled national sports leagues in its bid to introduce intrastate sports betting (see previous  reports).

Judge Shipp’s latest negative decision was widely expected, and New Jersey politicians almost immediately flagged their intention to continue the argument by appealing his decision.

“We are going to continue pursuing every legal option available,” State Senate president Steve Sweeney said in a statement Friday. “The economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on.”

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak agreed, urging governor Chris Christie to waste no time in lodging an appeal.

New Jersey’s latest stratagem to get around the restrictive federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was to pass a law saying that it would not enforce the prohibition, but the sports leagues argued that such a move setting parameters like limiting sports gambling to certain places still amounts to regulation, and the Judge accepted that argument.

He did, however, comment “…the present case is not nearly as clear as either the leagues or the defendants assert” with the legal arguments becoming increasingly technical in nature.

The NCAA, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL and Major League Baseball submitted that federal law would allow the state to lift the ban entirely, but would not allow sports betting with some conditions, such as limiting it to certain locations.

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