Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 04:45:00 PM EST
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Senator Ray Lesniak had some harsh words for the transition report put together by the Gaming, sports and entertainment subcommittee and their look at the situation in the state with sports betting:"Having reviewed the transition team's report on sports wagering, I personally don't think it's worth the paper it's printed on," said Senator Lesniak, D-Union. "However, as a document intended to provide guidance to our State's new Chief Executive, this is very dangerous stuff. I urge Governor Christie to ignore the findings in this report, and do what's right for the people of New Jersey and the future viability of Atlantic City's casino industry." Lesniak questioned the impartiality of those crafting the report as well as the conclusions:"It's self-serving for the Vice President of Harrah's Entertainment to try to torpedo our efforts to provide fundamental fairness to the people of New Jersey," said Senator Lesniak. "Harrah's makes a mint every year on their ability to offer sports wagering to patrons at their Las Vegas casinos, and yet Mr. Satz would call on the Governor not to make those same opportunities available to the people of the Garden State. The transition team's recommendations on sports wagering are entirely off-base, and considering who's making those recommendations, are steeped in self-interest over the interests of the taxpayers of New Jersey." The report cited the cost of a challenge, but Lesniak said that his law firm is handling the case at no charge to the state:"We have not asked for one red cent from the State of New Jersey in our efforts to overturn the sports wagering ban. The only thing we're asking for is the State's support in our efforts - by joining as a plaintiff to give legal standing to our strongest constitutional argument, that the federal ban violates the 10th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States." Lesniak is focused on the sports betting portion and is pointing to the conflicts on the committee, but separate from that the gaming industry as a whole needs to have a fresh look. The horse racing industry is struggling mightily and Atlantic City is losing market share to other states daily. Lesniak thinks sports betting is an answer to help solving those problems, but many of the debates that occur over gaming involve a regional subcontext, such as Senator Sarlo suggesting a Casino at the Meadowlands, which is sure to rankle Atlantic City. You can view the subcommittee report for yourself here. |
| Jason Springer :: Lesniak goes after Christie transition team report on sports betting |
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