New Jersey Sports Betting is Here to Stay: Was Set to Expire in the Fall

Written by:
Aaron Goldstein
Published on:
Jul/06/2023

These are the latest stories involving the sports betting industry in New Jersey. 

Regulated NJ Sports Betting Sites

The following 19 sites are regulated in the state of New Jersey: FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars, BetRivers, BetMGM, FOX Bet, bet365, WynnBET, Tipico, SuperBook, Betway, Borgata, Unibet, PointsBet, Barstool, PlayUp, betPARX, Hard Rock, Golden Nugget.

Gambling911.com State Rating

B-

The state features 19 sportsbook apps for which two encompass some 75% of the overall market share. As if that weren't bad enough, New Jersey prohibits affiliates from obtaining a license there if also advertising offshore sportsbooks.  This is despite the D.C. Circuit Court ruling in favor of the Seminoles in Florida stance that bets occur on their servers just as long as the server is located on Seminole land.  Offshore sportsbooks that accept bets on a server located in Antigua where online gambling is also legal are no different.  Gambling911 understands New Jersey not allowing offshore books to blatantly advertise on billboards and in radio/TV ads in the state.  That's perfectly fair....but to apply this standard to affiliates who simply advertise offshore books without specifically targeting NJ residents is draconian to say the least.

Sharp bettors and accounts are routinely limited or banned and regulators do nothing.

Players are required to pay the 24% tax rate if they win more than $600 in a year. Additionally, New Jersey assesses a 3% state tax on all income.  This is in keeping with other competitive states for the most part.

What ultimately kills New Jersey is the prohibition on betting in-state schools.  Rutgers football still gets a lot of love from gamblers even though they've been pretty bad throughout the years.  But it is with college basketball where the state really loses out.  New Jersey in recent years - especially in 2023 - has become a juggernaut in the college basketball space with their Cinderella teams (FDU, Princeton, St. Peters in 2022).  Rutgers and Seton Hall continue to offer up solid teams in recent years.

Voters in the November 2021 general election rejected the opportunity to amend the state's constitution to allow bets on collegaite games happening within New Jersey, which goes to show not everyone is on board with this fledgling young industry.

Where NJ excels is that they allow for online casino games as well as online poker (though the latter is a complete joke due to the large pool of players required to be successful). 

A telltale sign that things are not exactly hunky-dory in the Garden State (despite having 19 operators) is that Gambling911.com continues to see web searches almost daily for offshore sportsbooks like Bovada and whether they are accessible from New Jersey (complete with the NJ IP address).

Restrictions and Tax

As noted above, players are required to pay the 24% tax rate if they win more than $600 in a year. Additionally, New Jersey assesses a 3% state tax on all income.

New Jersey Sports Betting News

(July 6, 2023) - Legal authorization for online casino gambling in New Jersey was set to expire in November of this year (2023). However, Gov. Phil Murphy last week signed iGaming extension legislation into law on June 30.  This means the law has been extended for another five years. 

While most state governors, regardless of party affiliation, have signed off on sports betting there's no guarantee that five years from now the sitting NJ governor will do the same.  That's especially true if the current trend continues with the reckless behavior exhibited by some companies along with the problem of athletes gambling and leagues seemingly losing all control.

Look no further than the United Kingdom to see how things might turn out down the road.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com

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