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MURPHY v. NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN. 

Opinion of the Court 

and  attitudes  have  swung  back  and  forth.    By  the  end  of
the  19th  century,  gambling  was  largely  banned  through­
out  the  country,1  but  beginning  in  the  1920s  and  1930s, 
laws prohibiting gambling were gradually loosened. 

New  Jersey’s  experience  is  illustrative.  In  1897,  New 
Jersey  adopted  a  constitutional  amendment  that  barred 
all gambling in the State.2  But during the Depression, the
State  permitted  parimutuel  betting  on  horse  races  as  a 
way  of  increasing  state  revenue,3  and  in  1953,  churches 
and  other  nonprofit  organizations  were  allowed  to  host
bingo  games.4    In  1970,  New  Jersey  became  the  third 
State  to  run  a  state  lottery,5  and  within  five  years,  10
other States followed suit.6 

By the 1960s, Atlantic City,  “once the most fashionable
resort  of  the  Atlantic  Coast,”  had  fallen  on  hard  times,7 
and casino gambling came to be seen as a way to revitalize 
the city.8  In 1974, a referendum on statewide legalization 
failed,9  but  two  years  later,  voters  approved  a  narrower
measure allowing casino gambling in Atlantic City alone.10 
At that time, Nevada  was the only other State with legal 

—————— 

1 See  Nat.  Gambling  Impact  Study  Comm’n,  Final  Report,  p. 2–1 
(1999)  (Final  Report);  S.  Durham  &  K.  Hashimoto,  The  History  of 
Gambling in America 34–35 (2010). 

2 See  Atlantic  City  Racing  Assn.  v.  Attorney  General,  98  N. J.  535, 

539–541, 489 A. 2d 165, 167–168 (1985). 

3 See  Note,  The  Casino  Act:  Gambling’s  Past  and  the  Casino  Act’s 

Future, 10 Rutgers-Camden L. J. 279, 287 (1979) (The Casino Act). 

4 Id.,  at  288;  see  also  N. J.  Const.,  Art.  4,  §7,  ¶2(A);  Bingo  Licensing

Law, N. J. Stat. Ann. §5:8–24 et seq. ( West 2012). 

5 See  State  Lottery  Law,  N. J.  Stat.  Ann.  §5:9–1  et seq.;  The  Casino 

Act, at 288; N. J. Const., Art. 4, §7, ¶2(C); Final Report, at 2–1. 

6 Id., at 2–1. 
7 T. White, The Making of the President 1964, p. 275 (1965). 
8 See D. Clary, Gangsters to Governors 152–153 (2017) (Clary). 
9 See The Casino Act, at 289. 
10 See ibid.; N. J. Const., Art. 4, §7, ¶2(D).