U.S. appeals court: New Jersey sports betting unconstitutional

A federal appeals court has upheld a series of rulings saying an effort by New Jersey to legalize sports betting is unconstitutional.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia agreed with lower courts in ruling that New Jersey could not legalize sports betting without violating a 1992 federal ban on the practice that included several exemptions. Most major professional sports leagues and the NCAA had filed suit against New Jersey’s efforts to allow sports betting.

This is the second time that the Third Circuit has ruled against the effort. In 2013, the same court rejected New Jersey’s attempt to allow sports betting at the state’s casinos and racetracks, but it said that the state was free to repeal its own state prohibitions without ruling on whether that would allow the state to sidestep the federal prohibition.

New Jersey repealed its own ban with a 2014 law, but the Third Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling, said Tuesday that the effort still did not over-ride the federal ban.

Monmouth Park has supported the effort to allow sports betting, but the track backpedaled on a earlier vow last fall to offer customers the ability to bet on sports when sports leagues filed additional challenges to the effort.