A prominent New Jersey state senator said today he plans to sue the federal government in an attempt to overturn a 17-year-old ban on sports betting. Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who has long pushed for an expansion of wagering to drive up state revenues, said he will file the lawsuit in federal district court within the next two weeks.

"Billions of dollars are being bet offshore through the Internet or through organized crime, and those are revenues that could be going to New Jersey," Lesniak said. "People are doing it. They're doing it every day. They're doing it for the NCAA tournament. They're doing it for the Super Bowl and professional football. But we can't regulate it and run it in the state of New Jersey, and that's just unfair."

The federal ban went into effect in 1992. At the time, four states already had laws on their books allowing sports betting. Those states -- Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware -- were exempted, though betting is conducted only in Nevada.

In a nod to New Jersey's casino industry, federal officials gave the state the opportunity to legalize sports betting in January 1993, after the ban had gone into effect, but state lawmakers declined.

In Lesniak's view, sports betting should be permitted not only in Atlantic City's casinos, but at the state's three ailing horse-racing tracks, at off-track betting locations and over the Internet.

On the state level, Lesniak said, he plans to introduce legislation in the Senate and sponsor a constitutional amendment to permit wagering on professional sporting events.

Three times in the past five years, the state Assembly passed legislation authorizing a referendum. Each time, the Senate declined to take up the cause. State Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who has opposed sports betting in the past, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Lesniak's initiative comes as Delaware, one of the states exempt from the federal ban, prepares to consider sports betting anew to fill a gaping budget hole. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell raised the issue repeatedly as a candidate last fall and, once in office, directed his finance department to study the issue, said Joe Rogalsky, a spokesman for Markell.

Markell plans an announcement on sports betting next week, Rogalsky said. While the spokesman declined to provide details about the announcement, his comments suggest Markell will call for sports betting to move forward at the state's casinos.

"Delaware is a gaming state, and we need to protect our gaming interests," Rogalsky said. "Sports betting is a unique advantage we have right now."

He added that lawmakers are facing a $600 million shortfall in the current budget and that Markell "is looking at all revenue options on the table."

If sports betting is enacted in Delaware, it would be yet another blow to Atlantic City's casinos, now in the third year of a devastating slowdown. Last month, the city's 11 casinos posted a 19.2 percent decline in revenue over the same period last year, the biggest drop in three decades of legalized gambling. Revenues have been driven down not just by the recession but by increased competition from new casinos in Pennsylvania and New York. Lesniak suggests sports betting will be a boon for the casinos, the racetracks and the state. He said his research shows New Jersey could take in more than $100 million a year from sports betting, based on the state's 8 percent tax imposed on gaming revenues.

Gaming analyst Joseph Weinert, a senior vice president with Spectrum Gaming Group, a casino consulting firm, calls Lesniak's revenue forecast wildly optimistic. "New Jersey would have to be the only place in the world with sports betting to achieve that number," Weinert said. In the 12 months ending Jan. 31, the 24 biggest casinos in Las Vegas generated just $50.6 million in sports book revenue, or about 1 percent of total revenues. For New Jersey to generate $100 million in cash from the state tax, gaming revenue across the state would have to top $1.2 billion, Weinert said. "I submit that ain't gonna happen," he said.
 

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