55 Percent of NJ Respondents: Sports Betting Would be Bad For AC

In a recent poll of New Jersey residents conducted by Rutgers-Eagleton it was discovered that only 7% of respondents had actually tried gambling on one of the state’s regulated online gambling sites and only 5% said the activity was good for Atlantic City’s troubled gambling industry.

23% said online gambling made no difference for Atlantic City, and 17% said they were not sure.

Next month marks the one-year anniversary of legalized online gambling in the state.  To date, revenue generated has fallen well below initial forecasts.

That same poll showed that nearly 55% of respondents believe that legalizing sports betting would be bad for Atlantic City. 

The poll results were released just days after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed legislation allowing the state’s racetracks and casinos to allow sports betting.  Late Monday, the professional sports leagues filed an injunction to prevent this from occurring.

Results are from a statewide poll of 842 residents contacted by live callers on both landlines and cell phones from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, 2014. The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percentage points.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com