Jersey score

1 December 2017 By Reynolds Holding Follow @holdingren

New Jersey’s suit to legalize sports wagers makes financial policy sense, but the constitutional argument is stronger. Limits on the feds’ power mean states do their own thing on everything from pot to guns. A court already inclined that way is likely to extend it to betting.

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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Dec. 4 in New Jersey’s bid to revive a state statute legalizing sports betting. The statute was struck down by lower courts as a violation of federal law.

The justices will review last year’s federal appeals court ruling that the 2014 statute permitting sports betting at casinos and racetracks violated a 1992 federal law prohibiting such gambling in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon. New Jersey argues that the federal law infringes upon state sovereignty as laid out in the U.S. Constitution.

Courts have voided two New Jersey laws, including one in 2012, designed to raise revenue for state coffers through sports betting. The law now at issue would still ban wagers on state college teams, and betting would be limited to people age 21 and older at casinos and racetracks.

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