LONG BRANCH, NJ—Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) released the following statement regarding a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Shipp in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey filed by the National College Athletics Association (NCAA), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Football League (NFL) to determine if they are adversely impacted by the State of New Jersey allowing sports betting. Currently, only Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana have some type of exemption from the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a federal law prohibiting sports betting. Congressman Pallone is the author of the New Jersey Betting and Equal Treatment Act of 2012 (NJ BET Act), H.R. 3081, which amends the current law to exclude the State of New Jersey from the prohibition on professional sports gambling.
“It is absurd for the professional sports leagues and the NCAA to claim that they will suffer injuries as a result of the legalization of sports betting in New Jersey. That these organizations claim that the sports they represent will somehow have their reputation impacted is naïve at best and assumes that illegal gambling is not currently occurring in lieu of legal sports betting. The fact is that the presence of illegal betting and the crime that goes with it has a far greater impact on the legitimacy of sports organizations than legalization in New Jersey would.
“It is widely known that sports betting in the Unites States is currently occurring illegally and offshore and is frequently run by major criminal enterprises. Each year this illegal and offshore sports betting represents an estimated $380 billion. By making legal claims that they may suffer as a result of legalization of sports betting in New Jersey, the NCAA, MLB, NBA, NHL and NFL are in effect turning a blind eye to the reality of illegal sports gambling and admitting that they benefit under the current system.
“I will continue to push for the passage of my legislation making sports betting legal in New Jersey. My bill will not only help to stem the criminal activity associated with sports gambling, it would also pump much needed revenue into to our state by taking the gambling out of the shadows and regulating it. It has become clear that the states need to step in and regulate sports betting and bring critical revenues back into the state and out of the hands of criminals.”
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