In a development of no great surprise, federal District Court Judge Michael Shipp enjoined Monmouth Park (and anybody else in New Jersey) from offering sports betting. And he made the injunction permanent, decreeing that the Garden State’s 
unregulated sports wagering contravened the Professional & Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. “We are going to continuing pursuing every legal option available. The economic impact that sports wagering can have on New Jersey is far too important to simply shrug our shoulders and move on,” said state Senate President Steve Sweeney, in a prepared statement.
Since the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that individual states can decide “the contours of the prohibition” on sports betting, New Jersey will make its stand there, having always held that its odds were better with the Third Circuit than with Shipp. “After analyzing the rationale expressed by the Court in granting a temporary restraining order last month, today’s action was rather expected,” said Monmouth Park adviser Dennis Drazin. “We will once again return to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and ask that they order strict adherence to their 2013 decision, which established the roadmap for New Jersey to begin offering sports wagering.”
Major-league sports attorney Jeffrey Mishkin, however, predicted a narrower interpretation of the “contours of the prohibition” as meaning simply that the states can determine the punishment for violation of sports betting bans. Meanwhile, NFL and NBA teams continue to cozy up to fantasy-sports sites, in the major leagues’ ongoing spectacle of hypocrisy.
* Contemplation of the Restore America’s Wire Act is reportedly putting Capitol Hill conservatives in a bind: Do they stick by principles of limited government or do a
favor to their new King Midas, Sheldon Adelson? They also have to decide whether it’s going to be harder to try and whisk it through the lame-duck session or wait until the new Congress is seated. A surprising number of conservative groups (surprising at least in their willingness to irk Adelson) are coming out against RAWA on principle, led by the highly influential Grover Norquist. “RAWA attempts to apply federal sports betting regulations to online gambling—even though this legislation was created decades before the invention of the internet,” read one protest letter.
Warning that Adelson is also cozying up to Sen. Harry Reid (D), the Poker Players Alliance cautioned of circumstances like the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Law, which was literally snuck through Congress in the middle of the night, tacked onto a must-pass security bill. Wrote the PPA, “we’re very concerned there could be a backroom deal brewing. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we remain vigilant to ensure political influence doesn’t win out over what’s in the best interest of consumers.”
* The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has given the Mashpee Wampanoags (and everybody else) until Jan. 30 to get their casino application in to the state. Considering that the Mashpee site in Taunton hasn’t been taken into trust 
and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Reid never got a nullification of the Carcieri v. Salazar ruling — which makes the Mashpee ineligible for a casino — through the upper chamber, it doesn’t look like the Wampanoags are going to make it to the party. Despite a lot of talk, the State of Massachusetts is where it always was: with only KG Urban‘s proposed conversion of a New Bedford power plant. Foxwoods Resort Casino has made a few noises of interest in the area, but I’m guessing we won’t see much activity until a flurry of moves at the last minute.
