Nevada is still the only state in the union where legal betting on all major individual sports is legal.
In an effort to change this statistic and switch sports books from illegal to legal, on Tuesday, August 25th New Jersey attempted to repeal its prohibitions on sports betting. Unfortunately New Jersey was denied by an appeals court in the process.
Since 2009, New Jersey has been trying to legalize sports betting in the casino and racetrack industries. The biggest hurdle facing New Jersey in this mission was an issue in the appeal, if a 2014 New Jersey law against sports gambling violated a 1992 federal ban in all states except four. Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon.
“We repealed a law for sports betting at casinos and racetracks, and that does not violate the federal ban,” Ray Lesniak, State Senator stated. “We are allowed to do that.”
Lesniak believed that the case should have been appealed shortly, although, that was not the case. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that New Jersey did in fact violate the Sports Protection Act by allowing sports books within New Jersey. New Jersey’s effort to expand their gambling options and help the struggling racetrack and casino industries has now come to a screeching halt.
In Delaware, Montana and Oregon sports books are legal, to a degree. As opposed to Nevada where all sports betting is legal – these states allow betting to take place on certain individual sports such as football and hockey, yet not on all major individual sports.
Had New Jersey been successful, it was predicted that legal sports betting would have spread across to other states.
A sports book is a place that allows a person to be able to gamble and wager on different sports competitions, such as baseball, hockey, football and other major sporting events. While the law restricts sports betting to most states, other forms of wagering are still allowed.
The idea of sports betting continues to spread around to other states, in hope of someday becoming legalized around the country.