Legalized Sports Betting In A.C.?

Earlier this year, several people in New Jersey were arrested for allegedly running a casino out of a Borgata poker room. While we here in this country do simply love sending people to jail for activities between consenting adults, apparently some people in New Jersey feel otherwise: They’d like to legalize sports gambling in Atlantic City!

Two former assembly members, senators Jim Whelan and Jeff Van Drew — who you may remember from attack ads that made them out to be child-rapists last year — are at the forefront of the push to legalize sports gambling in Atlantic City. Sports gambling is regulated by federal law, and New Jersey missed its previous chance to legalize it, so it could become a messy states’ rights issue that will no doubt be decided in favor of the federal government.

But, hey, who knows? I don’t know who would gamble in AC when Internet sports gambling is plentiful and no doubt has better odds. But, hey, if horse racing is the sport of kings and that’s base on killing horses and betting on it, who’s to say Atlantic City shouldn’t get a piece of the action? Well, the National Football League, paragons of virtue and holiness and sponsors of fantasy football, doesn’t think so!

“It’s bad policy because it turns human players into roulette chips with the sanction of the state,” said NFL attorney David H. Remes.

What the hell does that even mean? Oh, no, the big ‘roided-up men and their spying coaches might have their integrity ruined, wah wah wah. Human-roulette chip hybrids! What ever will we do? The NFL’s lawyer might as well as it’s bad policy because it turns human players into zombies that will overrun the earth, a la Resident Evil. Hey, we should be able to gamble on video games, too!

Bid renewed to bring sports betting to A.C. [AP/Philly.com]