While state officials weigh whether to take their battle over sports betting to the U.S. Supreme Court, legal bills for their so-far unsuccessful effort have topped $5.1 million.

The state has paid $5,179,885 as of Wednesday to the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Taxpayer funds are not being used to pay for the sports betting litigation, according to Leland Moore. a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Instead, the legal effort is being funded through fees paid by the gaming industry to regulatory agencies, Moore said. Three-quarters of the costs are paid by fees paid to the Casino Control Fund of the Division of Gaming Enforcement. An additional 25 percent comes from fees paid to the state Racing Commission, he said.

New Jersey is trying to persuade federal courts to allow the state’s bid to bring legal sports betting to its horse tracks and Atlantic City casinos.

That effort suffered a setback on Aug. 9 when a 12-judge panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled against the state and in favor of five sports organizations, including the NFL and the NCAA.

The court voted 10-2 to uphold an earlier ruling that invalidated a challenge to the 1992 federal law that prevents New Jersey and 45 other states from authorizing or licensing betting on sporting events.

Moore said in an email that the question of whether to appeal that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court “is still under review and discussion.”

Governor Christie told listeners to a sports radio program he cohosted on Aug. 10 that he thinks New Jersey should take the case to the Supreme Court. He criticized professional sports leagues including the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League for opposing sports betting.

“They’re all making money off fantasy sports. They’re investing in it,” Christie said on the WFAN660AM’s “Boomer and Carton” sports talk radio show. “They go to court and they try to stop us in New Jersey from legalizing what is happening every Sunday — illegal bookmakers in the mafia. They’d rather have them do it.”
New Jersey voters approved sports betting in 2011 and the Legislature enacted a law in 2012 that gave Christie the authority to allow betting at racetracks and casinos.

Several sports leagues successfully challenged the state law, saying it violated the 1992 federal law.

Christie signed a modified version of the bill in 2014 but it also was struck down by a federal appeals court after the leagues filed suit. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear that case.