Like gambling really makes a difference... Half the football players seem to be soon to be inmates and most of the other athletes are usuing steroids or doing something insane. But yes sports wagering is just too horrible to think about! I hope they throw the cases out and New Jersey steams ahead.

What if they reached a deal where they pay part of the vig to the sports leagues who then share that revenue with the players? In that way they could give bonuses to the players so that the risk of point shaving would go down because the player salaries were higher?

I've met Lesniak, the man has cojones, not just literally a heavyweight like Christie.

FWIW, NJ has hired decent counsel for the case, Ted Olson, who argued the winning side in Bush v Gore.

To paraphrase a Jack Nicholson line from Prizzi's Honor,

"NFL owners would rather eat their children than part with money, and they are very fond of their children."

Yeah, but "Mitts" is not like that unknown Scandinavian kid who Negraneau claims gave him $125,000 cash at the WSOP soley because he couldn't be bothered with taking it back home.

I still think the kid just wanted some lutefisk.

He also teamed up with the Gore lawyer to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell forcing congress to pass the current law allowing gays / lesbians to serve openly in the military.

I do find the sports leagues objections hard to understand, there are many different economical, political and moral angles interacting which is fascinating.

First if the leagues just wanted as much $ as possible they would simply lobby for and support a federal bill for sports betting with 1% of the betting turnover going to the league and let the sports books advertise in the games, stadiums, merchandise etc. Hello Gbtzrilions of free $.

Politically the forces of conservatism and religion are strong and opposed to it. But the government do stand to make a lot of money collecting taxes so I would have thought they would be behind it.

In the past the powerful NV (Vegas) lobbying forces worked against legal sports betting outside of NV because they had a virtual monopoly and people flew into Vegas and left all their money there because they could do something there they could not do at home. But now I gather Vegas lobbyist are all behind online gambling.

As for the integrity of the sport you have a much better chance of catching the cheats when the market is regulated. If you have legal and licenced companies running the books there are know your customer requirements and records kept so bets can be traced back. Everyone can see if there is a betting plunge on an unlikely outcome and if that outcome happens in an unusual way investigators look to link the ppl who made the betting plunge and the player who caused the outcome to occur and BAM cheaters banned for life. The cheating is already happening just going unpunished so would happen less if betting were legal.

I guess there are a lot of ppl in politics and in the leagues who are genuine in there old fashion beliefs that gambling is an ill of society and a vise for sinners, wont somebody think of the children type stuff. But these are a dying bread.

So there are good reasons to legalise it there aren’t good reasons not to so it will happen eventually. Thank god I don’t have to live there, but I do want your liquidity in the markets I bet into.

im pretty sure they want to convert sports betters to real money fantasy players.

sports betting = they dont get a cut

Interesting info from The Press of Atlantic City http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/n...a4bcf887a.html

New Jersey lawyers in sports betting case will get chance to interview league commissioners [pressofatlanticcity.com]

New Jersey will be able to depose the president of the NCAA and commissioners of NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB for up to four hours under a proposal put forward by lawyers representing the organizations suing to block the state from starting sports betting.

Joe Brennan, Jr., makes an excellent point (as usual):

Kraft says London ready for its own NFL team [espn.com]

At the NFL's FanFest rally on Saturday in Trafalgar Square, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft shared his belief that London is ready to have its own professional football team.

Joe Brennan Jr
‏@joebrennanjr

If London, w/ all its sports betting shops, is "ready" for a team, why is the NFL trying to stop legal betting in NJ?

if they're consistent, they'll probably only allow a London team with the stipulation they can't be bet on

lol

Not sure how much of an impact this is but it's at least something. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/n...a4bcf887a.html

Is it me or are the NFL some of the biggest hypocrites on the face of this earth? The concussion-player safety issue (Ed Reid) and now this.

Wow, you guys have it hard in the US. We have sports betting in canada via the Government run Lotteries. I certainly hope NJ goes ahead and wins

They had me at lobbying for the UIGEA after establishing a carve-out specifically for fantasy sports.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/n...a4bcf887a.html

Really feeling that NJ has a good chance of winning this argument here.

If this gets the the Supremes and New Jersey loses, goodbyeeeee USA.

Thank you for your insight.

Canadian Senator arguing for single-game sports betting (and taking shots at the NFL). [parl.gc.ca]

An excerpt from his speech:

... We also received submissions from the NFL, the NHL and the NBA. These leagues provided strongly worded briefs, all apparently written by the same person, that suggest legalized betting is destructive to the social fabric, a threat to the integrity of sports and damaging to the bonds of trust between sporting organizations and their fans.

This is from Major League Baseball, which looked the other way as steroid-fuelled players rewrote the record book — the same Major League Baseball where the all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, has admitted he bet on 52 games of his own team in a single season. This is from the NHL, which allowed a convicted bookie, Rick Tocchet, to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is the same NHL that allowed the Edmonton Oilers to sign an advertising agreement with Bodog, a gambling website, which included rink board advertising, concourse and other signage and radio spots. This is the same NHL that promotes the PRO-LINE Dash for Cash between periods of Ottawa Senators games. This is from the National Football League that plays games in London, England, a country that has had single-event sports betting for many years.

Incidentally, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said a few weeks ago that he wants to see an NFL franchise in London soon, within the next couple of years. This story was widely reported and even carried on the NFL's own website. I would suggest that says something about the sincerity of the NFL's concern: England good, Canada bad.

This same NFL became a laughing stock earlier this year by hiring replacement officials who had reportedly been fired for incompetence by the Lingerie Football League. One of these replacement officials was assigned to a New Orleans Saints game, despite having pictures on his Facebook page of him wearing Saints gear. He was only reassigned on the day of the game after a TV sports network called the league's headquarters about the matter.

It seems to me, honourable senators, that these leagues are doing a pretty good job of threatening the integrity of sports all by themselves....

h/t: @joebrennanjr

welcome to America, where the NFL says gambling will ruin the fabric of society, but don't you **** with our fantasy sports, UIGEA

NFL/NCAA strike back at NJ’s list of facts in sports betting case [northjersey.com]

“Fantasy sports operated or promoted by Plaintiffs do not constitute sports wagering, as they do not – contrary to Defendants’ assertion – ‘involve putting money at stake on actual game performances that are subject to chance, with a financial prize going to the winner,’” the league attorneys wrote. “None of these games even require that any money be paid in order to participate.”

lol but we won't talk about the fact that we know most do and that we love it!