Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is defending the strength of sports betting regulations for the US market, even as recent legal troubles involving NBA figures have intensified debate over sports betting regulations. At the same time, members of Congress are renewing demands for tighter federal safeguards in response to scandal. In a guest essay and media interviews, Christie argued that the legal market is proving its value by uncovering manipulative betting behavior that would likely remain hidden in an unregulated environment. He pointed to recent indictments, including those involving NBA and MLB players, as evidence that detection systems built into…