As the fledgling US Sports betting industry moves into what has been forecast to be a bright 2019, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has hit out at major American sports bodies for their “underlying duplicity”.
Since the Supreme Court’s mid-year decision last year to end the PASPA law that for more than two decades had widely prohibited sports betting in the US, as many as two dozen states led by New Jersey have subsequently introduced or are currently preparing to legalize sports betting.
And to these states Christie has made a strong call not to give way to sports bodies like the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB who are demanding to be paid “data usage” or “integrity” fees.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, Christie, the inspired leader of New Jersey’s successful Supreme Court battle, lashed out at what he described as the “double standards” of the sports bodies – and the NFL especially.
When these same sports bodies were attempting to block New Jersey’s bid to have the PASPA law lifted in the Supreme Court, Christie said he and New Jersey were willing to negotiate an integrity fee or offer them a slice of all gaming winnings if they had agreed to allow legal sports betting.
At no time during the legal battle did they show any interest in any form of negotiation and as far as he was concerned this approach had ended any chance of further negotiations after the sports bodies lost them in the Supreme Court.
“They laughed at me,” Christie said. “Everyone laughed at me. They’re not laughing anymore.”
When it became clear after the Court ruling that ‘integrity fees’ or a cut of some kind held little water with state legislatures and the gambling establishments running sportsbooks, the sports bodies then began seeking compensation in exchange for official match data.
But again New Jersey and the other states entering the new sports betting era have, in the main, also resisted this payment avenue, largely because it would reduce the amounts they are paid in betting taxes.
But that’s not the end of the story, most informed sportsbook watchers believe. The sports bodies, helped by professional lobbyists, will continue their fight for data fees.
“These folks,” said Christie when referring to the lobbyists, “Will now come to your state capitals and argue with you that they should somehow now get something for free from you that they were unwilling to settle on when they were in the midst of litigation.
”They (the sports bodies) don’t need integrity fees,” Christie said. “They don’t deserve a data fee.”
Christie further urged state lawmakers to reject any form of federal regulation in the sports betting industry.
Following the Supreme Court decision to throw out the federal ban on sports betting , the Democrat Party’s Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer together with the Republicans’ then President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch introduced a new federal sports betting bill calling for a federal-level data fee as well as Federal regulatory powers over sports betting.
To this Christie said: “We don’t need a federal solution.”
Reintroducing federal regulatory powers, he said, would hurt states and go against the very constitutional principal that the Supreme Court had ruled as being unconstitutional.
In his argument, Christie cited the Nevada sports betting market which, unlike New Jersey, had never been prohibited by Paspa.
”When did Nevada sports gaming ever seem like it was incapable of being regulated by the state regulators in Nevada?” he asked.
“When I ask people in the federal government they can’t come up with one reason, one example in Nevada which has the longest track record or Now New Jersey.”
Since co-authoring the new betting bill, Hatch, a key figure behind PASPA, has retired and with the US Congress in turmoil over President Trump’s border wall and the resultant government shut-down, political observers feel there is little chance of another betting bill being passed any time soon.
