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 During the final hours of the current legislative session, the New Jersey Assembly approved a measure to legalize sports betting in the state. The announcement came Monday when the senate passed the bill with a 35-2 and the Assembly voted unanimously in favor of bringing sports betting to their state.
"These votes, by both houses of the legislature and the voters of New Jersey, mark the beginning of the end of the inequitable federal ban on sports betting," said a sponsor of the bill, Senator Ray Lesniak, D-Union, "This time next year our residents won't have to fly to Las Vegas or visit their local bookie to bet on the Giants, Jets or Eagles to win the Super Bowl. They will be able to go to an Atlantic City casino, Monmouth Racetrack or The Meadowlands."
All that is standing in the way of sports betting for New Jersey residents is the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The law bans 46 of the 50 states from providing residents with the ability to wager on sporting events with the exception of horse racing and jai alai. Now the state looks for federal approval before they can officially allow sports betting in New Jersey.
Lesniak released a statement in regards to the news and the possibility of federal approval saying:
"Today's legislative action represents the latest step in ensuring that the will of the people of New Jersey is expressed, and that we're not going to sit back while Las Vegas and other gaming jurisdictions get all the benefits of an unfair and arbitrary ban on sports betting," said Senator Lesniak, D-Union.
"This bill would correct a decades old mistake, and would allow New Jersey to begin implementing sports wagering operations which would create new jobs, incentivize new economic activity in a recovering gaming sector, and create new tax revenues for the State. It would also position us to topple an unfair federal ban on sports wagering which is costing our State while boosting the gaming economy in Las Vegas, where sports wagering is exempt from the ban."
With the state of New Jersey now strongly backing this measure, it shouldn't be hard at all to get federal approval.
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