The Delaware House of Representatives has approved a bill to legalize sports gambling. The bill moves onto the Senate now where it’s fate is uncertain. The Governor has sworn to veto the bill, but the bill’s sponsors have cleverly included a provision that makes the law not go into effect until the day after she leaves office – giving her a way to save face while not thwarting the legislature’s will. Read more about this hot issue here.

Meanwhile in New Jersey, Democratic Senator Raymond Lesniak is threatening to sue the federal government in order to pave the way for his state to legalize sports betting. It seems that there is a Federal law in place that bans sports betting in every state of the union except for Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon. CNN offers a nice summary:

New Jersey is looking to bring professional sports betting to Atlantic City casinos and horse racing tracks, but a 1993 federal law limited legalized sports betting to the four states, though only Nevada enables it.

“Congress did more than make us second class citizens,” Lesniak said. “It violated the Constitution of the United States of America.”

He said federal law cannot favor some states over others.

“Other states are likely to support our efforts if we take the lead,” Lesniak said during a Senate hearing.

…

Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, said a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court could favor states’ rights.

“It is very difficult to understand how sports book could technically be legal in four states but not in 46 others,” Van Drew said.

I wholeheartedly agree with these lawmakers and applaud their efforts to bring sports betting out of the shadows. It’s not in our country’s interests to make criminals of millions of law-abiding citizens simply because they prefer to bet on sporting events rather than take part in the state-run lottery. If you live in Delaware or New Jersey, please take the time to contact your local representatives and express your support for the legalization of sports betting in your states. You will almost certainly receive a thoughtful reply and could well have an impact on the outcome of this important debate.