The federal ban on sports betting was lifted by the US Supreme Court on May 14, 2018. Former New Jersey Senator Ray Lesniak was one of the people who pushed all the way New Jersey to be one of the first to legalize gambling. Now he wants to legalize the sports betting across the country.
In an interview, Ray explained that he got involved in all this because his friend Rudy Garcia had been arrest and charged with racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy. Lesniak was upset about this turn of events, realizing that “he could have gotten on a plane and gone to Las Vegas and done it legally.”
At this moment he decided to get into action to legalize sports betting and, despite a number of people telling him there was no way he could win, he opted “to go after it and we ultimately won our victory.” Lesniak explained that with five casinos closing in Atlantic City, 15,000 jobs were lost and the racetrack industry was dying. He believes that if Atlantic City could work with sports wagers like Vegas, the operators there would prosper.
He stated: “I said so many times what annoyed me a lot was during Super Bowl week in the NFL season and during the NCAA Tournament, Las Vegas you couldn’t get a room. Atlantic City was a ghost town. Now you can’t get a room in Atlantic City.”
It was at that point that he opted to fight to make it legal in his state for people to bet on sports. Lesniak explained that the solution to revitalizing Atlantic City was an easy one, yet one he was going to have to fight to make a reality.
“These are two industries (racetracks and casinos) that needed an infusion of new life, new blood, new revenue, and sports betting was the answer. I started 12 years ago, eight times in court but finally, we won and we’re enjoying the benefits.”
The former state senator explained that allowing sports betting will help the community. While people are placing bets, they will “stay for dinner. They’ll rent rooms. It brought an entire town back to life again, and that was my goal.”
Thanks to Ray Lesniak hard work and persistence, Atlantic City is thriving once again and now 11 states offer sports gambling.
