New Jersey’s long battle to bring legal sports betting to casinos and racetracks returned to federal appeals court last week, as attorneys for the nation’s leading sports leagues and lawyers for the state clashed over whether the latest betting plan violates a federal ban.
The arguments featured everything from a fight over what the word “authorize” means to a state attorney paraphrasing Dr. Suess’s “Horton Hears a Who” while making a point to a three-judge panel that includes the sister of Donald Trump and the wife of former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
This was the second time in less than two years that a U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Philadelphia heard the case, as New Jersey continues to push sports betting as a way to help revitalize Atlantic City and the state’s horse-racing industry, both of which are struggling. The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NCAA are suing to stop the state’s effort, saying it violates a 1992 federal law banning sports wagering and threatens to hurt the integrity of their games.