DOJ seeks to block Corzine from joining gambling lawsuit while Court rules against Delaware

by: Jason Springer

Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 01:30:00 PM EDT

Lawyers for the US Department of Justice are asking a US District Court to block New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) from joining a legal challenge to a Federal law preventing his state from offering legal sports wagering, as other states like Nevada and Delaware do.

"The constitutional claims that the Governor seeks to advance do not belong to him; they belong, instead, to the State of New Jersey," read the brief submitted by the DOJ, in opposition to Gov. Corzine's own motion to intervene in the suit, brought by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA), NJ State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), and the state's horse racing associations.

"The Delaware case was determined on a statutory interpretation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act federal ban on sports betting and not on the constitutional issues raised by New Jersey's challenge,'' Lesniak said. "Therefore, we plan on proceeding with the challenge as planned, and this latest development does not deter us from challenging (the law) as unconstitutional.

"While I'm relieved, as a New Jersey official, that Delaware gambling interests will not be given the opportunity to get a head start on sports betting - thereby attracting tourists away from Atlantic City's casinos - I continue to find it ridiculous that consenting adults in New Jersey, Delaware and forty-five other states cannot legally bet on sporting events, while citizens in three states essentially maintain a monopoly on legal sports betting,'' the senator added.

"Everyone should have a level playing field, and right now, (the federal ban) tips the odds in favor of just three states where legal sports betting is allowed. It's in everyone's interests to overturn (the law) and allow states to take a measure of control over their own destinies when it comes to sports betting."