Update: PASPA Challenge Fails in New Jersey

Bad news arrived on the last day of February for New Jersey's attempt to legalize sports betting in the state and therefore challenge the PASPA law, as federal judge Michael Shipp delivered a negative judgment for New Jersey, granting a permanent injunction which bars the Garden State from offering intrastate sports betting. This way the judge effectively nullified a state law signed last year by Governor Chris Christie and supported the DoJ and national sports leagues. However, an appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, and possibly in the future to the U.S. Supreme Court, is expected to be made in near future, say industry observers. Upon issuing his 45-page opinion, Judge Shipp stated that the federal government had established rational and logical reasons for implementing the PASPA, and a judicial intervention was not warranted "...no matter how unwise a court considers a policy decision of the legislative branch." He also opined that the state should not have passed a unilateral state law to satisfy its citizens who generally disagree with the PASPA, but that it should've pursued Congressional initiatives seeking the repeal or amendment of the Act in question. Therefore, for the time being, New Jersey's sports betting law will not be implemented, and the state's further moves will be closely monitored.