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Former New Jersey Governor and current Republican candidate for US President, Chris Christie, is being credited for his role in ensuring sports betting prohibition got abolished by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The New York Times over the weekend reported:
"Chris Christie leveraged his ties to former President Donald Trump and his status as a former New Jersey governor to make millions in multiple business sectors, including sports betting and pharmaceuticals."
More from the NY Times:
Sports betting companies like DraftKings also paid Christie thousands to advise and lobby their interests. As governor, Christie made legalizing sports betting one of his political touchpoints and was even later inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame.
One unnamed source told the outlet that one company, Scientific Games, paid Christie $30,000 a month as a consultant in 2018.
And this has left some feeling enraged.
"This hurt. Christie profiting from my work," former New Jersey state senator Ray Lesniak tells our own Thomas Somach.
Lesniak embarked on a decade-long fight to overturn The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and pushed for the legalization of sports betting in New Jersey, as part of his wider efforts to support the state’s gaming industry. He would later be inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame.
"Three times he tried to stop me, his transition report recommended not wasting taxpayer dollars pursuing a legal challenge to legalize sports betting, he refused to substitute for Governor Corzine in my legal challenge which got me booted by Judge Shipp in my us district court challenge for lack of standing and he vetoed my legislation and his veto message was sited by Federal Ct. of Appeals Judge Barry in denying our appeal after Senator Kyrillos got Christie to sign my legislation by threatening an override.
"My biggest beef is I came up with the tenth amendment challenge to PASPA while legal gaming “experts” derided its chances and Christie despite denying me three times is getting credit for it."
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
