Phil Murphy signed a bill which allows land-based sportsbooks on Thursday, June 14 and online sportsbooks 30 days later.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a sports betting bill on Monday, legalizing land-based sportsbooks and online bookmaker sites in the Garden State. Last week, both houses of the New Jersey state legislature voted unanimously to legalize sports betting in the state.
Gov. Murphy said in a press release after signing the bill, “Our casinos in Atlantic City and our racetracks throughout our state can attract new business and new fans, boosting their own long-term financial prospects.”
“This is the right move for New Jersey and it will strengthen our economy.”
Monmouth Park Racetrack and William Hill Plc plan to open a sportsbook at the Oceanport racetrack at 10:30am EST on Thursday. New Jersey gaming regulators and racing officials have to tighten the framework of legal New Jersey sports betting before the Thursday rollout, but all other governmental hurdles have been surmounted.
New Jersey Approves Sports Betting
New Jersey becomes the second US state to regulate and legalize single-game sports bets since the U.S. Supreme Court repealed the PASPA federal ban on sportsbooks. Last Tuesday, Delaware launched single-game sports betting at Delaware Park, Harrington Raceway, and Dover Downs.
Under New Jersey’s new law, the state will tax gross sports betting revenues at an 8.5% tax rate. Online sports betting will be taxed at a 13% tax rate. Thirty days after the rollout at Monmouth Park, online sportsbooks licensed in New Jersey will begin to offer a full slate of sports wagers.
Intrastate Online Sportsbooks
Like online casino and poker betting, New Jersey online sportsbooks will be able to offer wagers only to people residing inside the state’s boundaries. The 1961 Wire Act and the 2006 UIGEA still make it illegal to conduct interstate sports bets. The Wire Act made it illegal to make sports bets over interstate telephone lines, while the UIGEA makes it illegal to conduct any form of gambling over interstate Internet lines which are illegal (for telephone wires) under the Wire Act.
New Jersey Sportsbook Law’s Provisions
To place a bet legally in New Jersey, a bettor will need to be 21 years old or older. Legal sports bets cannot be made on high school games or contests of any kind. Esports betting is banned, though some experts believe eSports wagers might be allowed by the Division of Gaming Enforcement on a single-event basis, though the sportsbooks will need to ask permission for each event.
People with a possible influence on the outcome of a game cannot wager on New Jersey sports bets. That includes coaches and players, as well as referees and umpires.
No Integrity Fee Included
The major US sports leagues, which fought in court to keep the PASPA ban in place, are critical of the state sports betting laws in Delaware and New Jersey. The leagues say the key “fraud fighting provisions” needed to maintain the integrity of games have not been included in the current state-level sports betting laws.
What Is an Integrity Fee?
The NFL, NBA, and MLB have sought to include “integrity fees“ in newly-promulgated gaming laws. Under NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s proposal, sportsbooks would pay a 1% integrity fee to sports leagues involved in an individual sports bet.
Critics of the integrity fee proposal say the NBA and NFL are disingenuous when they say they need a fee to better protect their sports from match-fixing and point-shaving. Those same critics point out the leagues have said for 25 years they were making supreme efforts to protect the integrity of the game, so maintaining integrity should cost them not one dollar more under the new system.
