Betting Sports: The fish that got away

Betting Sports: The fish that got away
Submitted by New Jersey CourierPostonline.com
New Jersey lawmakers erred by not giving Atlantic City casinos the chance to offer sports betting first.
Atlantic City already has been hit hard by the national recession and by the opening of racetrack casinos in Pennsylvania.
Things are about to get tougher.
Last week, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed a bill that makes betting on sports legal in the state. Delaware's two racetrack casinos -- Delaware Park in Wilmington and Dover Downs in Dover -- plan to have sports betting operations up and running by the start of the NFL season in September.
New Jersey lawmakers missed the boat, big time, and Atlantic City will pay for it in more lost business.
Delaware's racetrack casinos, which are also due to get table games such as blackjack and poker under the bill Markell signed, will lure more gamblers, drawing some of them away from Atlantic City. Delaware's casinos will now be able to offer something that no gambling parlors outside of Nevada have, including those in Atlantic City.
New Jersey could have and should have cornered the market on this.
In the 1990s, when there was federal legislation and New Jersey was given a chance to have legal sports betting, lawmakers here foolishly said no.
Then, over the past five to 10 years, when it became obvious in the Internet age that sports betting online cannot be stopped, our lawmakers didn't do anything to get the federal law changed.
Finally, U.S. Sen. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, filed suit in March to overturn the federal law that bars 46 states from legalizing sports betting. Lesniak contends, rightly so, that's its wrong to allow Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon to have sports betting but not other states.
While we hope Lesniak's lawsuit is decided in New Jersey's favor, it may be too little too late. Delaware will now establish itself as a magnet for bettors who want to wager on sports. That will pull people away from Atlantic City.
New Jersey lawmakers dropped the ball on this in the early 1990s and this decade by not taking action against the federal law. We just hope the mistake doesn't cost too many more jobs in battered Atlantic City.


Betting Sports: The fish that got away