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The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association announced Monday that they will challenge the Federal law that prohibits the expansion of sports wagering to all but four states.
iMEGA's challenge to PASPA has been assigned to Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown, Jr. , who sits in Trenton, New Jersey.
Docket: http://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-new_jersey/court-njdce/judge-Brown,%20Jr./
His Magistrate Judge is Tonianne J. Bongiovanni.
Docket: http://dockets.justia.com/browse/state-new_jersey/court-njdce/judge-Bongiovanni/
The case number is: Civil Action No. 09-1301(GEB).
iMEGA is joined in its suit by the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, The Thoroughbred Breeders Association of New Jersey, the Standardbred Breeder & Owners Association of New Jersey and New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union).
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1991 (PASPA) prohibits any state - except for Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon - from permitting legal forms of sports wagering of any kind. The four states that had legal sports wagering at the time the law was passed were grandfathered in, and the other 46 states were given only one year in which to pass their own legislation or be forever barred from any attempt at offering a legal, regulated alternative to underground sports betting.
The suit filed against the federal government claims that PASPA violates five amendments to the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against the people of New Jersey and by regulating a matter that should be reserved to the states.
"It makes sense to take this huge underground national marketplace, estimated at more than $360 billion annually and bring it out into the light of day," said Joe Brennan Jr., chairman and CEO of iMEGA. "By offering legal, regulated alternatives in sports wagering, the state can guard against criminal elements attempting to use their money to influence the outcome of games. We can protect the integrity of the games."
