New Jersey's Corzine: Let all states bet on sports

[1969pontiac]

NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine on Friday said all states should be able to permit gambling on sports, defending his state's gaming enterprises just days after Delaware became a rival.

New Jersey could get as much as $100 million in tax revenues, based on $10 billion of bets, if New Jersey could legalize betting on sports, the governor estimated.

Delaware in late May said it would add betting on football to its lottery for the autumn season after a state court ruled its constitution allowed more than just games of chance.

Only a few states, including Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Delaware can offer sports lotteries because they were grandfather under a 1992 federal law, Corzine said.

Delaware qualified because it had offered a sports lottery in the 1970s. For more details, please see: [nN28286923].

Corzine, a Democrat seeking a second term as governor of New Jersey, called Delaware's sports betting plans "a serious threat to both the casino and horse racing industries" in his state.

"If one state is allowed is allowed to legalize betting on sports events, all states should be allowed the same opportunity," Corzine said in a statement, adding he will join a lawsuit state Senator Raymond Lesniak filed to overturn the federal law.

Corzine said the lawsuit, filed in March and also supported by two horse racing groups and the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, argues that the federal law "unconstitutionally regulates commerce and discriminates against states where sports betting is forbidden."

The national recession has sliced Atlantic City casinos gross operating profits. The Borgata (BYD.N) suffered a nearly a 17 percent drop, followed by Harrahs Operating Company Inc [HAMLEO.UL] with an almost 16 percent fall. Bally's (HLNQ.PK) took a 14.3 percent decline.

Lesniak said: "Sports betting in the United States is unregulated, untaxed and illegal." The Democratic senator added the federal ban simply shifts the business overseas, sometimes to organized crime.