The showdown presentations regarding sports wagering in front of the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month resulted in great optimism among proponents of broader legalized sports gambling who are hoping for a ruling in their favor sometime in the first half of next year.
It was not so much the persuasiveness of the competing oral arguments in the case pitting New Jersey versus the country's major sports gambling organizations that had legalized sports advocates smiling. Rather, it was the questions the justices posed to each side during the court session Dec. 4.
Supreme Court watchers reference those questions from the bench as a weathervane for how certain justices are leaning. After all, the briefs from both sides have been filed for quite some time, so oral arguments are more an opportunity for the justices to put the lawyers to the test.
