Bill Text: NJ A3634 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Partially repeals prohibitions against sports wagering at racetracks and casinos in New Jersey.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-09-15 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee [A3634 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A3634-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman RALPH R. CAPUTO
District 28 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Partially repeals prohibitions against sports wagering at racetracks and casinos in New Jersey.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act partially repealing prohibitions against sports wagering at racetracks and casinos in this State and supplementing Title 5 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. All prohibitions, including, but not limited to, chapter 37 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, against wagering on the results of any professional, college, or amateur sport or athletic event, are partially repealed to the extent they would apply to such wagering at casinos or gambling houses in Atlantic City or at current running and harness horse racetracks in this State.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill is in response to the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the Court) in National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al. v. Governor of the State of New Jersey, et al., C.A. No. 13-1713, 1714, 1715, dated September 17, 2013, wherein the Court in interpreting the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), 28 U.S.C. § 3701 et seq., stated that it does "not read PASPA to prohibit New Jersey from repealing its ban on sports wagering." Third Circuit Decision at 73. The Court further stated that "it is left up to each state to decide how much of a law enforcement priority it wants to make of sports gambling, or what the exact contours of the prohibition will be." Decision at 78-79 (emphasis added). Moreover, the United States in its brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States in opposition to petitions for writs of certiorari in the above-referenced case wrote that "PASPA does not even obligate New Jersey to leave in place the state-law prohibitions against sports gambling that it had chosen to adopt prior to PASPA's enactment. To the contrary, New Jersey is free to repeal those prohibitions in whole or in part." United States Brief to the Supreme Court in Opposition to Petitions for Writs of Certiorari, dated May 14, 2014, at 11 (emphasis added).
Accordingly, under this bill, New Jersey would decide that its "exact contours of the prohibition" against sports wagering should be to repeal New Jersey's prohibitions against sports wagering "at casinos or gambling houses in Atlantic City or at current running and harness horse racetracks in this State."
