Speaker, Seton Hall University School of Law, "Legal Sports Betting in New Jersey: How It Happened and What's Next?" Newark, NJ

On May 14, 2018 the United States Supreme Court held unconstitutional, as being in violation of the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering rule, the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (“PASPA”). PASPA made it unlawful for a State, or its subdivisions, “to sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license, or authorize by law or compact…a lottery, sweepstakes, or other betting, gambling, or wagering scheme based … on” competitive sporting events, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 3702 (1), and for “a person to sponsor, operate, advertise or promote” those same gambling schemes if done “pursuant to the law or compact of a governmental entity,” Sec. 3702 (2). That decision has been widely perceived as allowing the States to legalize sports betting, something that PASPA had previously made unlawful for States to do.

New Jersey has legalized sports betting at New Jersey racetracks and Atlantic City casinos. This Program will discuss how the legalization of sports betting came to be in New Jersey and what the future of sports betting currently appears to be.