Briefs filed ahead of Supreme Court appeal

A series of amicus briefs have been filed with the US Supreme Court as it prepares to hear New Jersey’s appeal of the federal sports betting ban this autumn.

The American Gaming Association has submitted a 26-page document to the court, taking aim at the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act – which currently bans all but four states from regulating betting.

Current law “prevents states and tribal sovereign governments states from repealing or amending laws that their citizens no longer support,” said the AGA, which has recently secured the backing of major tribal gaming groups.

“States like New Jersey are compelled, at the federal government’s direction, to keep their antiquated sports-betting laws and regulations effectively frozen in place at a federal standard. That result is irreconcilable with the constitutional system of dual sovereignty and dangerous in its own right.”

The legalisation of sports betting is now “closer than any point in the last 25 years,” said CEO Geoff Freeman in tandem with the filing, adding that a positive decision by the court could lead to 152,000 jobs created in the sector.

The NCAA remains in staunch opposition to “all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering,” which could “undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardises the welfare of student-athletes”, it said.

Briefs were also filed by New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, as well as the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s association, which is party to the case.