When Major League Baseball and its sportsbook partners unveiled restrictions on certain types of wagers — after two pitchers were accused of rigging their throws to benefit bettors — they reaffirmed what many of us have long understood. Regulated betting, when done right, strengthens the integrity of sports.
And the federal cases that have swept up current and former N.B.A. players in sports betting probes — including Jontay Porter and Terry Rozier — aren’t signs of a system in crisis. Misconduct like this has been occurring for many years, only now it is being better rooted out by a system built to catch the cheating.
In building these cases, sportsbooks detected unusual betting patterns and flagged them to regulators and leagues. That simply doesn’t happen in illegal or unregulated markets. Regulated betting didn’t create these integrity issues. It has revealed them.
Betting on sports has been around for as long as sports themselves. As a prosecutor, I worked to curb illicit, criminal networks involved in illegal gambling. It took determination to disrupt criminals who operate in the shadows through illegal bookies and offshore websites. The old federal ban on sports betting didn’t stop illegal sports betting. What it did do was prevent states like New Jersey from regulating it. The result was a massive illegal market that left consumers unprotected and sports leagues blind to threats to their integrity. Prior to a 2018 Supreme Court decision, an estimated $150 billion was annually wagered on sports; one analysis cited that number to be as high as $196 billion.
This is why I, on behalf of the state of New Jersey, first brought the case that resulted in the 2018 Supreme Court decision that struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and affirmed what my state had argued for years: States, not the federal government, should decide whether to legalize sports betting and how to regulate it most effectively.
That landmark decision wasn’t just a legal victory for New Jersey. It was a win for fans and the integrity of American sports. States that have legalized sports gambling have since built systems that require transparency, consumer protection, and — most important — integrity. New Jersey has built a system that doesn’t just collect taxes — it builds trust. Operators undergo licensing. Technology monitors betting patterns. Leagues have a seat at the table. And when red flags arise, they are investigated and acted upon swiftly and publicly.
There’s no denying that sports betting is more visible now than it was a decade ago. That’s by design. Legal markets bring sunlight. They create standards. And they bring better accountability.
For those who believe sports must be protected from the risk to integrity that sports betting can create, I agree. That’s why I fought to give states the right to regulate it. It’s why I continue to support frameworks that require transparency and collaboration between leagues, regulators and operators. And it’s why I’m concerned about any effort — whether intentional or not — that would circumvent these essential protections and give unregulated sports betting enterprises free rein to operate in the shadows.
The irony is this: Had the ban on legal sports betting remained in place, we may not have discovered what happened with Jontay Porter and Terry Rozier. We might not have caught these possible N.B.A. infractions. We might not be having this conversation.
The regulated system is working. We should defend it, improve it and ensure it’s the standard — not the exception. When it comes to ensuring the integrity of sports, legal betting has achieved more in seven years than prohibition did for decades before.
It’s time we recognize that legal sports betting brings with it effective regulation that protects fans, teams, leagues and sports themselves — and work together to protect and build on that success.
Mr. Christie served as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. After leaving office, he served as an adviser to DraftKings until 2021.
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