New Jersey Sports Betting Law
- AN ACTallowing wagering at casinos and racetracks on the results of certain professional or collegiate sports or athletic events, supplementing Title 5 of the Revised Statutes, amending and repealing various parts of the statutory law. BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey.
- The NJ sports-betting law requires that there is an 8.5% tax charged on revenue generated from sports-betting in the state. A 13% tax is charged on the revenue from land-based casinos and a 14.25% tax charge on revenue from racetrack related sporting venues.
- New Jersey Sports Wagering Act
- New Jersey Sports Betting Law Change
- New Jersey Sports Betting Legal
- New Jersey Sports Betting Regulation
SPORTS WAGERING Sports Wagering has been authorized pursuant to P.L. On this page you will find the Sports Wagering Law, the Emergency Rules for Sports Wagering Promulgated by the Division of Gaming Enforcement, the Registration Form to file prior to wagering if you are a sports insider, and the answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Ending a more than eight-year odyssey to bring sports betting to New Jersey, Gov. Murphy signed a bill on Monday that legalizes wagering, with gambling set to start on Thursday — just.
New Jersey became the second state to legalize sports betting following the US Supreme Court ruling that overturned PASPA.
There was never any doubt New Jersey would go this route, but Gov. Phil Murphy made it official when he added his signature to the NJ sports betting bill that breezed through the state Legislature last week. The bill, A 4111, passed without a single no vote in either chamber.
Today, we’re finally making the dream of legalized sports betting a reality for New Jersey. This is the right move for our state and will strengthen our economy. pic.twitter.com/Dw3AIXnFGY
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 11, 2018
But what exactly did Murphy sign into law?
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the key components of the bill.
How soon is now?
Now that the law has been passed, New Jersey is wasting no time in joining Nevada and Delaware (which beat New Jersey to the punch by a week) as a legal sports betting state.
Land-based sportsbooks are expected to begin opening on Thursday.
Betting will begin at @MonmouthPark at 10:30 a.m., Thursday. Sen. Ray Lesniak (@lesniakinstitut) will be making the first bet, '$50 on France to World Cup. That's big-time for me.'
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) June 11, 2018
This news was followed with Borgata Atlantic City announcing it would take bets shortly after Monmouth Park’s ceremonial first bet.
.@BorgataAC confirms it will accept first sports wager at 11 a.m. on Thursday inside the Race & Sports Book, special unnamed guest will place first bet
— David Danzis (@ACPressDanzis) June 13, 2018
Online and mobile products will have to wait a little longer, as there’s a 30-day moratorium on online wagering in the legislation.
“This act shall take effect immediately, except that provisions allowing online or Internet sports wagering shall take effect 30 days thereafter.”
How many sportsbooks are we talking about?
Per the law, each eligible entity (nine casinos, with Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort Casino, and four racetracks) can operate up to three sports betting brands.
At full capacity, that works out to 39 sportsbooks, which might be overkill for the New Jersey market.
More likely, each facility will have one or maybe two physical sportsbooks and 1-3 online skins.
DGE gets the final call on interstate wagering agreements
New Jersey’s legislation doesn’t have a whole lot of concern when it comes to the 1961 Wire Act.
The new law has a provision that will leave it up to the state Division of Gaming Enforcement to determine if New Jersey is capable of entering into interstate wagering partnerships.
“Notwithstanding any other provision… wagers may be accepted thereunder or pooled with wagers from persons who are not physically present in this state if the division determines that such wagering is not inconsistent with federal law or the law of the jurisdiction, including any foreign nation, in which any such person is located, or such wagering is conducted pursuant to a reciprocal agreement to which the State is a party that is not inconsistent with federal law.”
Money, money, money
New Jersey chose to go with a bifurcated tax rate for land-based and online sports wagering.
The land-based sports betting tax rate is set at 8.5 percent of revenue. The rate jumps to 13 percent for online and mobile wagering.
As is the case with online gaming, casinos will pay an additional 2.5 percent tax on online wagers — 15.5 percent total — as part of the state’s Alternative Reinvestment Tax that is used to promote tourism in Atlantic City.
Tracks are required to pay an additional 1.25 percent of revenue from internet and mobile wagers — 14.25 percent total — to the Alternative Reinvestment Tax fund.
And of course, all legal US sports bets are subject to a federal excise tax of 0.25 percent of handle.
Several no-betting zones
Not surprisingly, licensed books won’t be allowed to take wagers on high school sporting events, not that they were likely to anyway.
College games held in the state of New Jersey, or games that involve a New Jersey college are also prohibited.
Additionally, the law prohibits esports betting.
There’s also a specific exclusion that will apply to just one casino, Golden Nugget. The casino is owned by Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. As such, it cannot take wagers on any NBA games. That’s several steps beyond the company’s self-imposed policy in Nevada, where Rockets games and wagers are off the board at Golden Nugget.
What’s not in the bill
New Jersey thumbed its nose at the professional sports leagues demands for an integrity fee.
Not surprisingly, there is no provision for an integrity fee in the law.
New Jersey Sports Wagering Act
Thus far, none of the states that have passed legislation legalizing sports betting have included an integrity fee. And it’s a growing list:
- Nevada
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- West Virginia
- Mississippi
By Briana Vannozzi
Correspondent
It’s back to the courts. Legalized sports betting now signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie could be sidelined by yet another blow.
“The leagues, the NFL, NCAA and the rest of them have filed suit to try to stop us, to stop New Jersey from doing what is legally done in Las Vegas, state of Nevada,” said State Sen. Ray Lesniak.
Five major sports entities teamed up and filed a complaint in federal court today, a joint effort to halt wagering — set to start as early as this weekend at Monmouth Racetrack. The complaint states, “while styled as a ‘repeal,’ the 2014 sports wagering law is nothing more than a de facto authorization of sports gambling. Like its vetoed predecessor, the 2014 sports wagering law ‘repeals’ all existing prohibitions, rules and regulations that are specific to sports wagering, but does so only at Atlantic City casinos and horse racetracks throughout the state — in other words, only at venues that are already state-licensed and regulated.”
Lesniak, the prime sponsor of both New Jersey’s original and revised sports betting legislation, says it might cause a hiccup in the rollout, but he doubts the leagues will be granted an injunction.
“We’re hoping that the judge recognizes that number one they don’t have a reasonable chance of success. We’re complying with what the Third Circuit Court of Appeals said we could do. Secondly you also have to prove irreparable and immediate damage. There can be no irreparable damage from New Jersey allowing sports betting when Las Vegas and Nevada already does,” Lesniak said.
The leagues did not return requests for comment on the civil suit today, but the NCAA did say that it continues to believe the spread of legalized sports wagering is a threat to student-athlete well-being and the integrity of athletic competition.
New Jersey Sports Betting Law Change
Monmouth Park is likely to be the only institution in New Jersey taking sports bets for now. The operators of the Meadowlands Racetrack and executives for Atlantic City’s casinos have said they’d prefer to wait for a green light from the federal government before they begin.”
“When they see the success at Monmouth racetrack, when there are thousands of people on Sunday waiting to put their bets in and enjoying watching their favorite teams play, they’ll follow suit as soon as possible,” Lesniak said.
New Jersey Sports Betting Legal
Lesniak says a hearing is scheduled to be held tomorrow afternoon for the judge to consider the filing.