New Jersey’s Response to Sports Leagues Attempts

Thoroughbred horse industry and New Jersey Expo Authority join state in opposition to US national sports leagues' request for a court injunction against New Jersey's new laws permitting sports betting at intrastate racetracks and casinos. Last week saw filing of motions in federal court, opposing the attempt by the NFL and four more sports organizations to obtain a restraining order which would prevent Monmouth Park from offering sports betting on Sunday. New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman pointed out that the leagues last year claimed that a 1992 law does not require New Jersey to maintain its sports betting prohibitions yet the leagues now say, Hoffman added, that the new state law facilitating such an approach is unconstitutional even though it privatizes sports betting. Representing the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Peter Torcicollo noted that the Authority was merely Monmouth Park's landlord, and has no control over its operations or activities. "The Authority would not authorize, license or regulate it….and ceased all day-to-day operation and control over Monmouth Park in December 2011,” he advised. Thoroughbred industry's legal representative Ron Riccio, warned that any delays in implementing the new sports betting law would cause real commercial harm to the Oceanport enterprise next Sunday. He added that a permanent injunction against permitting sports wagering would be a “death knell” for the state's thoroughbred horse racing industry.