Case 1:25-cv-02152-ESK-MJS Document 15 Filed 04/18/25 Page 13 of 51 PageID: 134
COUNTERSTATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY A. New Jersey’s Historical Regulation of Gambling. For over 125 years, New Jersey has regulated gambling within its borders. See Murphy v. NCAA , 584 U.S. 453, 458 (2018) (noting that in 1897, New Jersey banned all gambling by constitutional amendment). Gambling in New Jersey “is governed directly by the Constitution itself” as the State has long maintained that “[g]ambling is an activity rife with evil” and “mischief” affecting “the public welfare and morality.” Knight v. City of Margate , 431 A.2d 833, 842 (N.J. 1981); see N.J. Const. art. IV, § 7, ¶ 2 (providing that gambling of any kind may only be legalized through ballot measure). Many forms of gambling remained illegal in New Jersey until 1976, when residents voted to amend the New Jersey Constitution to allow gambling within Atlantic City. Murphy , 584 U.S. at 459; N.J. Const. art. IV, § 7, ¶ 2(D). The following year, the New Jersey Legislature implemented that constitutional amendment by enacting the Casino Control Act, N.J. Stat. Ann. §§ 5:12-1 to -233, which regulates casinos within Atlantic City. In doing so, the Legisla- ture found that “the public confidence and trust in the credibility and integrity of the regulatory process and of casino operations” was “[a]n integral and essen- tial element of the regulation and control of such casino facilities by the State.” Id. § 5:12-1(b)(6). The Casino Control Act also created the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, id. § 5:12-55, and charged it with enforcing the Act and regulations promulgated under it, id. § 5:12-76(a).
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