Christie Joins American Gaming Association To Help Beat Back Prediction Markets
The former governor of New Jersey, who helped lead the charge to overturn PASPA, is now a strategic advisor for the AGA
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The American Gaming Association (AGA) is bringing in someone with a little bit of sports betting knowledge in its fight against prediction markets offering sports contracts: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Christie led the charge as governor in bringing what ended up being Murphy v. National College Athletic Association to the United States Supreme Court. It ruled to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), paving the way for states to choose whether they wanted to offer legal sports betting.
“He’s partnered with us as a strategic advisor on sports event contracts,” Dara Cohen, the AGA senior director for strategic communications and media relations, told Casino Reports. “He brings significant expertise and a strong background in the legal framework around state and tribal authority.”
Christie appeared on CNBC over the weekend, expounding on his stance on prediction markets.
“They’re illegal. They are clearly illegal in the sports betting space, and here’s why: The Supreme Court turned this over to the states to do, and the fact is, doing it through the states gives you two things. One, it gives availability to people. Two, in a regulated market,” he said.
“These are folks that are not being regulated, it’s not in compliance with the law, and it is hurting the 40 states where this is going on. And in those 10 states that don’t have sports gambling, those folks have made a decision not to allow it in their state, and these folks are flouting state law and going in there anyway.”
Just sports
Christie said as of now, his focus is solely on the sports arm of the prediction market space.
“The states have occupied the space to regulate sports gambling,” he said. “They were given the opportunity to that by the United States Supreme Court in a case that I fought six years to bring to the U.S. Supreme Court and to win … It’s been done in a way that is regulated and monitored to make sure that the integrity of the game is protected.”
Christie also mounted a pair of presidential campaigns, in 2016 and 2024, before losing to Donald Trump in the Republican primary both times.
In addition to his fight to bring legal sports betting to America, Christie memorably shot down questions about the legality of fantasy sports on the debate stage during the run-up to the 2016 election.
