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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association and some of the most prominent sports leagues in America are trying to keep sports betting out of New Jersey.
The NCAA, along with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball, filed a complaint in New Jersey federal district court on Tuesday to try to block state officials from authorizing sports gambling.
"Gambling on amateur and professional sports threatens the integrity of those sports," said the NCAA and the sports leagues in court documents.
They said sports gambling "would irreparably harm amateur and professional sports by fostering suspicion that individual plays and final scores of games may have been influenced by factors other than honest athletic competition."
The complaint targets N.J. Gov. Chris Christie for signing a law in January that permitted betting on college and professional games at casinos and racetracks. Sports gambling is illegal in most states.
The governor's office was not immediately available for comment.
The complaint also names David Rebuck, assistant attorney general and director of the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement, as well as Frank Zanzuccki, executive director of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement published its proposed regulations for gambling at casinos and racetracks on July 2. The public comment period to protest the proposed regulations ends on Aug. 31, according to the complaint.
The document says the regulations will go into effect within the next two months, at which point casinos in Atlantic City and racetracks throughout the state can apply for sports gambling licenses.
The complaint says the state is violating a federal law "enacted by Congress in 1992 in order to halt the spread of gambling on sporting events in the United States."
