The four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA (the leagues) scored a significant victory in September in their ongoing lawsuit to prevent legalized gambling in the state of New Jersey. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court ruling striking down the state’s law legalizing sports wagering because it conflicts with a federal ban. Governor Chris Christie and other New Jersey lawmakers, defenders of the state’s law, have petitioned to have the case reheard en banc by the Third Circuit and have vowed that they will continue pressing the lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. They took solace in a dissenting opinion that agreed with the state’s claim, but the leagues are odds-on favorites to preserve their win.

The case, NCAA v. Christie,1 involves the leagues’ joint effort to stop a New Jersey law, enacted in 2012, that would legalize sports betting at casinos and racetracks across the Garden State. Attorneys for the state have argued that the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), 28 U.S.C. §3702, which prohibits states from authorizing, operating or licensing sports betting, is unconstitutional because it commandeers state officials to enforce federal law in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The case brings the leagues’ longtime aversion to associations with gambling into direct conflict with New Jersey’s efforts to jump-start its sagging casino industry.

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