The former governor of New Jersey and the man responsible for pushing the United States Supreme Court to decide on overturning the nationwide sports betting ban, has called on lawmakers to resist an attempt by the federal government to regulate sports betting. Chris Christie told legislators at a conference on Friday that individual states have proven that they can handle the job of legalizing and regulating their own industries and the federal government should not get involved.
“We do not need a federal solution to this problem,” he said. “States have been regulating gambling for decades without an incident.”
Last month, Senator Charles Schumer (NY) and Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah) introduced a bipartisan federal bill that would essentially give the federal government control over the regulation of sports betting.
Christie also told legislators to resist demands by sports leagues to be granted ‘integrity fees’ on sports bets placed. The proposed federal bill does not specifically provide the sports leagues with ‘integrity fees’ but it does not prohibit them.
The former governor minced no words when he explained why integrity fees should not be paid out to the leagues.
“We’re going to reward the people who fought us for seven years with fees that are going to diminish your margins?” he asked the lawmakers. “They don’t need it, and given their conduct over the last seven years, they don’t deserve it.’”
