Chris Christie Tells WFAN He's Optimistic Supreme Court Will Rule To Legalize NJ Sports Betting
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) -- Gov. Chris Christie says he feels good about New Jersey's chances of winning its yearslong battle over legalizing sports betting.
The case is set to be heard in the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4. A ruling is not expected until June.
"I feel good about it," Christie said on Mike Francesa's WFAN show Wednesday. "You can never be completely confident when you go to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's nine people sitting up there, but we feel really good about our argument. We don't see that there's any basis for the federal government to be able to tell the states that you have to do or not do certain things. From our perspective, this should be the choice of the people of the state of New Jersey."
Christie's administration is challenging a 1992 federal law that bans gambling on sports in all but four states -- Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana.
New Jersey officials say the high court should strike down the ban because it wrongly forces states to enforce a regulation that Congress wants.
The state has been trying for nearly a decade to legalize sports betting and grab a share of the estimated $150 billion that is bet illegally on sports each year.
MORE: NJ Congressman Pushes For Legalization Of Sports Betting
Christie said at the heart of the issue is that the sports leagues want a piece of the pie.
"As far as the leagues go, if they wanted to make a deal, they should've come to us a long time ago," Christie said. "This has been going on for years. And I'm not saying that some deal won't happen sometime in the future where the leagues wind up getting a cut of the action."
Christie, who leaves office in January, said that if the Supreme Court ruled in New Jersey's favor on June 30, Monmouth Park could be taking bets by Fourth of July weekend. He said Meadowlands Racetrack would likely to be the next to follow.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)