Sports Betting May Come To Monmouth Park

[Man o Taz]

With a new law eliminating the ban on sports betting in NJ, Monmouth Park it trying to use some language in a court opinion to allow sports betting starting on October 26th.

However, the NFL, NCAA, MLB and others are trying to stop it.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/10/nj_sports_betting_experts_split_on_whether_bets_will_begin_this_weekend.html

Daniel Wallach, a gaming and sports law attorney in Florida, said there's a "very low likelihood" that Monmouth Park will start Sunday.

"Not only do the leagues present a very compelling argument that what is going on here is de facto regulations, but the judge will likely put in a placeholder until he has a hearing," Wallach said Wednesday.

A. Jeff Ifrah, a gaming attorney in Washington D.C., disagrees, noting that the leagues need to prove that betting this Sunday will cause them irreparable harm.

"If you honestly look at this, there is no basis to grant the league emergency relief," Ifrah said. "They are essentially asking the judge to prejudge the case, so their basis has to be really, really strong."

[Man o Taz]

Some have suggested that sports betting coming to Monmouth Park will do little to help horse racing -at least handle wise - given the experience at places such as Las Vegas.

However, Monmouth Park will be able to extract fees from the sports betters to help the track stay afloat financially.

And having sports betting at a race track is different from having it at a casino since the persons who frequent a race track are fundamentally different from those who frequent a casino.

What you want is increased gaming business at the race track. This is has the opportunity to do that by injecting persons interested in sports betting into the equation. Will they bet on horses too? Maybe. Maybe not. However, suggesting that because it does not happen in Las Vegas Casinos is different in my mind than whether it happens at a race track. I think this is particularly true when there is live racing there.

I hope this works to help Monmouth Park. We'll see - but the first step is actually being able to get sports betting there - and that is still an open question.

[Man o Taz]

http://www.northjersey.com/news/state-contends-that-nj-sports-betting-law-does-not-violate-federal-law-1.1126079
Acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman late Monday night sent a federal court declarations from three key regulatory bodies to back his assertion that the state's revised sports betting law passed last month does not run afoul of federal law.

The top officials of the Casino Control Commission, Division of Gaming Enforcement, and Racing Commission confirmed to the court that they "will not, and legally cannot, regulate sports wagering activities in casinos and racetracks because the 2014 Act prohibits them from doing so."

Hoffman and attorney Ted Olson called that "an insurmountable factual bar" to five pro sports leagues' claims against the state that seek to bar state racetrack and casinos from offering the sports wagering.

An attorney for the state Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, meanwhile, accused the National Football League of having "unclean hands" in the matter, given the fact that a game will be held in London – where such betting is legal – and that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady recently signed a deal with a "fantasy football betting" company.

Both the state and the horsemen argue that the leagues are in error when they claim that a Third Circuit Court of Appeals court last fall stated that the state could only leave their sports betting regulations in place – or eliminate them entirely.

The new law privatizes oversight of sports betting to the tracks and racetracks.

[Man o Taz]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/88855/new-jersey-to-press-on-for-sports-betting