Monday, May 26, 2014

Next Volley in New Jersey Sports Betting Fight

NorthJersey.com reports that State Senator Ray Lesniak is preparing a bill to allow the private operation of sports betting at the state's racetracks and casinos.  You may think such a bill is already in place and that's what the fight is over.  Well, you're correct.  But this one will be a bit different.

As part of the legal fight, the US Justice Department is claiming that they are not forbidding New Jersey from sports betting, just that there can't be any state regulation of sports betting.  So what the DOJ is saying is that either you can't have any sports betting or if you do, it has to be totally unregulated.  Senator Lesniak plans to call the DOJ's bluff.  If this passes, unfettered sports betting will be authorized in New Jersey and will force the DOJ to admit they were disingenuous with regard to their previous legal positions before the courts, or that they'll have to shut up and let sports betting move forward in states other than their grandfathered favorites, particularly Nevada.

Now it is possible if the Supreme Court takes up the recent New Jersey challenge, this bill might be held up until that appeal is settled.  If the Court doesn't grant review, then I see this bill moving forward quickly to again force a legal showdown with the DOJ
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf


Other posts on this topic can be found here, here, and here.

State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - threatening to call the bluff of the federal government regarding sports betting, .
Lesniak spearheaded legalization of online gaming in the state as well as its challenge of a federal law now negating the state’s sports betting law. He said he will move forward on the bill in the Legislature should the U.S. Supreme Court decline to hear the state’s case next month.
“Right now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City]] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak declared. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the [Supreme Court takes the case], it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states,” but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it, he added. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer.
The federal government and the NCAA, the NFL, and three other professional sports leagues last year prevailed at the U.S. District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals levels. That has led Governor Christie to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case — a decision that likely would be made next month.
But Lesniak’s bill would keep the issue on the front-burner even if the nation’s highest court declines to hear the case.
At the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia last June, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman argued the federal government’s case. Fishman, stressing the point that the PASPA law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, noted that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports betting laws.
“It would be a really, really bad idea,” Fishman said, but it would not be prohibited by the 1992 sports betting law that allows only Nevada and three other states to offer sports betting.
The Department of Justice’s most recent filing contends that even if the court questioned the federal law’s prohibition against sports betting, that law also prohibits private operators from offering such gambling. The state has countered that if the main provision is not legitimate, the entire law may need to be struck down.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s somewhat uneven results for online gaming since it was legalized last November was defended by numerous industry experts.
Richard Schuetz, chairman of the Caifornia Gambling Control Commission, said that criticism of the state’s results was like parents complaining that their 5-month-old baby “doesn’t speak any languages.”
Gaming law attorney Jeff Ifrah later continued the theme: “This baby is walking and talking, and is going be doing that very well for the rest of its life.”
Borgata CEO Tom Ballance said that New Jersey’s nine-month journey from legalization to going live with online gaming is “like trying to paint an airplane while it’s flying.”
State Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said: “Internet gaming exists in all 50 states. It’s just unregulated” in 47 of them, with only New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offering a legal version of the betting.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - threatening to call the bluff of the federal government regarding sports betting, .
Lesniak spearheaded legalization of online gaming in the state as well as its challenge of a federal law now negating the state’s sports betting law. He said he will move forward on the bill in the Legislature should the U.S. Supreme Court decline to hear the state’s case next month.
“Right now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City]] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak declared. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the [Supreme Court takes the case], it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states,” but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it, he added. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer.
The federal government and the NCAA, the NFL, and three other professional sports leagues last year prevailed at the U.S. District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals levels. That has led Governor Christie to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case — a decision that likely would be made next month.
But Lesniak’s bill would keep the issue on the front-burner even if the nation’s highest court declines to hear the case.
At the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia last June, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman argued the federal government’s case. Fishman, stressing the point that the PASPA law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, noted that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports betting laws.
“It would be a really, really bad idea,” Fishman said, but it would not be prohibited by the 1992 sports betting law that allows only Nevada and three other states to offer sports betting.
The Department of Justice’s most recent filing contends that even if the court questioned the federal law’s prohibition against sports betting, that law also prohibits private operators from offering such gambling. The state has countered that if the main provision is not legitimate, the entire law may need to be struck down.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s somewhat uneven results for online gaming since it was legalized last November was defended by numerous industry experts.
Richard Schuetz, chairman of the Caifornia Gambling Control Commission, said that criticism of the state’s results was like parents complaining that their 5-month-old baby “doesn’t speak any languages.”
Gaming law attorney Jeff Ifrah later continued the theme: “This baby is walking and talking, and is going be doing that very well for the rest of its life.”
Borgata CEO Tom Ballance said that New Jersey’s nine-month journey from legalization to going live with online gaming is “like trying to paint an airplane while it’s flying.”
State Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said: “Internet gaming exists in all 50 states. It’s just unregulated” in 47 of them, with only New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offering a legal version of the betting.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - threatening to call the bluff of the federal government regarding sports betting, .
Lesniak spearheaded legalization of online gaming in the state as well as its challenge of a federal law now negating the state’s sports betting law. He said he will move forward on the bill in the Legislature should the U.S. Supreme Court decline to hear the state’s case next month.
“Right now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City]] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak declared. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the [Supreme Court takes the case], it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states,” but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it, he added. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer.
The federal government and the NCAA, the NFL, and three other professional sports leagues last year prevailed at the U.S. District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals levels. That has led Governor Christie to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case — a decision that likely would be made next month.
But Lesniak’s bill would keep the issue on the front-burner even if the nation’s highest court declines to hear the case.
At the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia last June, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman argued the federal government’s case. Fishman, stressing the point that the PASPA law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, noted that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports betting laws.
“It would be a really, really bad idea,” Fishman said, but it would not be prohibited by the 1992 sports betting law that allows only Nevada and three other states to offer sports betting.
The Department of Justice’s most recent filing contends that even if the court questioned the federal law’s prohibition against sports betting, that law also prohibits private operators from offering such gambling. The state has countered that if the main provision is not legitimate, the entire law may need to be struck down.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s somewhat uneven results for online gaming since it was legalized last November was defended by numerous industry experts.
Richard Schuetz, chairman of the Caifornia Gambling Control Commission, said that criticism of the state’s results was like parents complaining that their 5-month-old baby “doesn’t speak any languages.”
Gaming law attorney Jeff Ifrah later continued the theme: “This baby is walking and talking, and is going be doing that very well for the rest of its life.”
Borgata CEO Tom Ballance said that New Jersey’s nine-month journey from legalization to going live with online gaming is “like trying to paint an airplane while it’s flying.”
State Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said: “Internet gaming exists in all 50 states. It’s just unregulated” in 47 of them, with only New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offering a legal version of the betting.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf

tate Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - threatening to call the bluff of the federal government regarding sports betting, .
Lesniak spearheaded legalization of online gaming in the state as well as its challenge of a federal law now negating the state’s sports betting law. He said he will move forward on the bill in the Legislature should the U.S. Supreme Court decline to hear the state’s case next month.
“Right now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City]] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak declared. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the [Supreme Court takes the case], it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states,” but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it, he added. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer.
The federal government and the NCAA, the NFL, and three other professional sports leagues last year prevailed at the U.S. District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals levels. That has led Governor Christie to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case — a decision that likely would be made next month.
But Lesniak’s bill would keep the issue on the front-burner even if the nation’s highest court declines to hear the case.
At the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia last June, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman argued the federal government’s case. Fishman, stressing the point that the PASPA law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, noted that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports betting laws.
“It would be a really, really bad idea,” Fishman said, but it would not be prohibited by the 1992 sports betting law that allows only Nevada and three other states to offer sports betting.
The Department of Justice’s most recent filing contends that even if the court questioned the federal law’s prohibition against sports betting, that law also prohibits private operators from offering such gambling. The state has countered that if the main provision is not legitimate, the entire law may need to be struck down.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s somewhat uneven results for online gaming since it was legalized last November was defended by numerous industry experts.
Richard Schuetz, chairman of the Caifornia Gambling Control Commission, said that criticism of the state’s results was like parents complaining that their 5-month-old baby “doesn’t speak any languages.”
Gaming law attorney Jeff Ifrah later continued the theme: “This baby is walking and talking, and is going be doing that very well for the rest of its life.”
Borgata CEO Tom Ballance said that New Jersey’s nine-month journey from legalization to going live with online gaming is “like trying to paint an airplane while it’s flying.”
State Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said: “Internet gaming exists in all 50 states. It’s just unregulated” in 47 of them, with only New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offering a legal version of the betting.
Email: brennan@northjersey.com  Blog: northjersey.com/brennan

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf

tate Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - threatening to call the bluff of the federal government regarding sports betting, .
Lesniak spearheaded legalization of online gaming in the state as well as its challenge of a federal law now negating the state’s sports betting law. He said he will move forward on the bill in the Legislature should the U.S. Supreme Court decline to hear the state’s case next month.
“Right now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City]] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won’t be able to get one,” Lesniak declared. “We are going to have sports betting in New Jersey next year. Go to the bank on it, because if the [Supreme Court takes the case], it will be overturned.
“And if it isn’t, it’s the position of the Justice Department in their briefs that they are not stopping states,” but telling those states they’re free to stop preventing such betting without officially sponsoring it, he added. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won’t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending the legality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) that bars state-sponsored betting in all but four states. Last week it reiterated its contention that the law is not unconstitutional because it merely prevents the sort of state-sponsored sports betting that New Jersey’s current state law is meant to offer.
The federal government and the NCAA, the NFL, and three other professional sports leagues last year prevailed at the U.S. District Court and Third Circuit Court of Appeals levels. That has led Governor Christie to make a final appeal for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case — a decision that likely would be made next month.
But Lesniak’s bill would keep the issue on the front-burner even if the nation’s highest court declines to hear the case.
At the Third Circuit court in Philadelphia last June, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman argued the federal government’s case. Fishman, stressing the point that the PASPA law is not an example of prohibited “commandeering” of state conduct, noted that New Jersey officials could, if they chose to, announce that the state would no longer enforce its sports betting laws.
“It would be a really, really bad idea,” Fishman said, but it would not be prohibited by the 1992 sports betting law that allows only Nevada and three other states to offer sports betting.
The Department of Justice’s most recent filing contends that even if the court questioned the federal law’s prohibition against sports betting, that law also prohibits private operators from offering such gambling. The state has countered that if the main provision is not legitimate, the entire law may need to be struck down.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s somewhat uneven results for online gaming since it was legalized last November was defended by numerous industry experts.
Richard Schuetz, chairman of the Caifornia Gambling Control Commission, said that criticism of the state’s results was like parents complaining that their 5-month-old baby “doesn’t speak any languages.”
Gaming law attorney Jeff Ifrah later continued the theme: “This baby is walking and talking, and is going be doing that very well for the rest of its life.”
Borgata CEO Tom Ballance said that New Jersey’s nine-month journey from legalization to going live with online gaming is “like trying to paint an airplane while it’s flying.”
State Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said: “Internet gaming exists in all 50 states. It’s just unregulated” in 47 of them, with only New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware offering a legal version of the betting.
Email: brennan@northjersey.com  Blog: northjersey.com/brennan

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, on Monday announced at the East Coast Gaming Conference in Atlantic City that he is preparing a bill to allow for private operation of sports betting at the state’s racetracks and casinos - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-sen-lesniak-to-craft-sports-betting-bill-for-racetracks-casinos-1.1019252#sthash.0QYM6XkZ.X9hgh8DP.dpuf

Sunday, May 11, 2014

eSports Taking Next Step Into the Mainstream

Continuing with the eSports topic, Major League Gaming and ESPN have partnered to present an eSports tournament at the upcoming X Games in June.  The tournament will be based on the Call of Duty game and will have a total of eight teams participating.  For the first time, X Games medals will be awarded to MLG professional gamers.   This is just the next step for eSports as they move further up in popularity and further move into the mainstream.  The MLG/ESPN story on this can be found here

That's not all the recent good news for eSports.  Bloomberg Business Week has a news item discussing the construction of a 15,000 seat eSports stadium near Macau in China.  According to the article, "Hong Kong developer Lai Fung Holdings plans to build a 15,000-seat stadium so fans can watch gamers play one another in front of them."  The stadium will be a part of a much larger, $2.8 billion gaming theme park planned for Hengquin Island, near to Macau.  Macau rapidly grew into one of the largest gaming destinations in the world in just a few years.  It appears China is looking to be a world leader in this form of gaming as well.  According to Bloomberg, more than 500 million people in China play video games.  Contrast that to the total population of the US, which is barely above 300 million and you get a perspective on just how big gaming is in China. 

Quoting further from the Business Week article, they note that the Activision Call of Duty tournament in March had a $1 million prize purse.  It is apparent eSports is getting big and getting big fast.  Again, keep an eye on eSports.