ESPN picks up on Corzine joining Gambling lawsuit

by: Jason Springer

Mon Jul 06, 2009 at 04:45:00 PM EDT

Governor Corzine recently announced that he would be joining State Senator Ray Lesniak's lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal gambling ban and allow sports betting in New Jersey. An ESPN article explained what the Governor joining the suit means:

This move by Corzine, who would become partner in Lesniak's lawsuit once the brief of support is filed, would be significant because:
Historically, sports betting hasn't been at the forefront of discussions about legalized gambling. But Corzine is reacting to Delaware approving it, the nationwide financial crisis and a recent poll indicating the majority of New Jersey residents want it.
This enhances the lawsuit's chances of winning and the federal betting ban being overturned. Some legal scholars say the suit wouldn't be a legitimate threat to existing law until a state claimed Congress was violating its rights. Now one is.

The article also provided some additional information about the history of the ban and NJ's role in it:

The betting ban, officially called the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), was proposed by former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley in the early 1990s and passed in 1992. It prohibits states from being in the bookmaking business but exempts Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware, the only four states that had existing sports betting laws when the act became law.

And while the Governor and members of the Legislature try to move forward to overturn the ban, a Gloucester County Times editorial points out some voices have been surprisingly silent:

Again, we're scratching our heads as to why the casino owners, who stand to benefit most if the ban ended, are not taking the lead here.

It is surprising that the casino's aren't pushing harder for this potential new revenue source, especially given their recent struggles. It does appear there is other momentum to take another look at sports betting:

The move comes in the midst of an unprecedented run of support for legalizing gaming of all forms. In recent weeks, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's bill to regulate and tax Internet gambling, specifically poker, has gained more than 30 co-sponsors. It is expected to be debated in the Finance Committee, which Frank chairs, sometime in mid-July.
That's around the same time the Department of Justice is expected to issue its response to Lesniak and Corzine's lawsuit.

So stay tuned, we'll see what the Justice Department has to say.

Jason Springer :: ESPN picks up on Corzine joining Gambling lawsuit

Tags: Jon Corzine, gambling, Ray Lesniak, (All Tags)

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ESPN picks up on Corzine joining Gambling lawsuit | 2 comments

Let's Bust The Bookie's By Taxing This Vice... (0.00 / 0)

Everyone knows that sports betting is common throughout the region. It's happening, and it will continue to happen; why not tax it and have the state benefit rather than organized criminals?

The fact that the casinos aren't clamering for the extra business is bizarre....unless you think about it a little bit.

Don't get me wrong, I believe gambling is generally a destructive activity and demeans, degrades and degenerates the human spirit (as do drugs and prostitution)....but criminalizing the activity only serves to lubricate the markets, isolate the victims, glamorize the "action" and create all manner of perverse incentives for the existence of organized criminality that then builds up large quantities of dollars/assets that require some outlet in "legitimate" political and economic activity.

The key is to allow these vices to be commercialized in such a way that they are not marketed/pushed....but rather deglamorized and to have a good portion of the profits made available for pyschological counseling for those who wished to be free of the emotional, physical, financial and psychospiritual burdens of these activities.

Truly happy, mature healthy free/joyful human beings have no interest in or need of these vices......but such humans can not be legislated into existence. Our current laws actually exacerbate and perpetuate the very problems they, supposedly, are designed to discourage.

Corzine is on the right track.....though I doubt he would travel as far down that road as I would prefer.

Obviously, this is a very complex set of issues and there is no way every facet thereof can be covered in this little molecule of a comment......but if it gets you thinking and you have questions/challenges....deel free to pose them and if there's enough of em maybe we can accommodate with a separate diary......though, I dare say, the odds are against that. ;-)

by: Nick Lento @ Mon Jul 06, 2009 at 22:54:43 PM UTC

Yeah, I'm no fan of gambling. (0.00 / 0)

Nick makes a good point that often forcing activities underground can make things worse.

SO Nick, if Corzines going to "Bust The Bookie's By Taxing This Vice", he better make sure it works properly. If the premise is to make it harder for the bookies, as Jon Luc Picard often said, "Make it so...".

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Mon Jul 06, 2009 at 23:05:53 PM UTC