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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

NJ’s Sports-Betting Law Faces En Banc Review

PHILADELPHIA (CN) - The Third Circuit agreed Wednesday to hold an en banc rehearing on New Jersey's attempt to legalizing sports betting.

Though a three-judge panel with the federal appeals court that looked at the Garden State's actions found them unconstitutional in August, that decision has been vacated pending review from the 11-judge court.

New Jersey has been trying to legalize sports betting under Gov. Chris Christie for years.

The first attempt, passed in 2012, allowed betting on professional and college sports at New Jersey casinos and racetracks.

When courts struck that law down as unconstitutional, Christie issued a directive last year that claimed the 2014 Sports Wagering Law remained effective as a "repeal" of previous statutes prohibiting sports wagering, rather than as an "authorization" of sports gambling.

The law quickly drew a challenge from the National Collegiate Athletics Association and all major professional sports leagues.

In striking down the 2014 law this summer, the three-judge panel of the Third Circuit was divided as to whether New Jersey's "repeal" of its ban on sports betting in certain locations constituted an authorization.

Judge Julio Fuentes wrote in dissent that the new law was not an authorization proper.

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