NJ Voters Will Decide This Fall On Wagering On NJ College Events

The New Jersey Assembly voted 70-4 on Thursday for a resolution to allow betting on Rutgers football, Seton Hall basketball and other college sports in New Jersey.

The state Senate approved the same resolution with a 36-1 vote on June 3rd, so the next step – after state officials finalize the jargon – is for voters across the country to indicate whether they want to agree that such games of chance should be added to the sports betting menu.

New Jersey bettors have been able to bet on all major college competitions outside of the state since June 2018, one month after the US Supreme Court repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992. That decision upheld the six New Jersey-year litigation to end Nevada’s near-monopoly on such gambling.

A decade ago, New Jersey voters backed a referendum to allow sports betting in Atlantic City casinos and state racetracks – in direct disregard of PASPA. The NFL and four other sports organizations sued the state in 2012 and won a number of court decisions before the nation’s Supreme Court agreed to review the matter in 2017.

With nearly two-thirds of voters backing the previous referendum even though it appeared to be against federal law, it is to be expected that this referendum could be even easier to happen. Naysayers who predicted an increase in fixing games due to the legalization of sports betting have not seen any such activity.

Oddly enough, the Assembly did not vote on this resolution on Monday, despite approving the other 15 resolutions on the file.

What the resolution says

The resolution, which was first presented in October last year, is only six pages long.

“Walow is not allowed in university sports or athletic event taking place in New Jersey or at a sporting or sporting event Event that a college team from New Jersey participates in regardless where the event takes place “, it says in the law with the addition:”except that it should be lawfulr the Legislators can legally authorize betting in casinos or games of chance Homes in Atlantic City about the results of college sports or track and field Event that is a tournament, playoff, championship, or other postseason Competition that takes place in New Jersey, including such events A college team from New Jersey is participating in and sanctioned by a non-profit college sports club run by its members.

Another new clause clarifies that the state’s three racetracks – and their mobile sports betting partners – will have the same new options.

The “interpretative statement” proposed for the vote, which many voters will rely on, would be:

“Currently the state Constitution prohibits Betting on college sports or track and field events takes place in New Jersey. It also prohibits Betting on an event involving a New Jersey College team attends. These modification would enable the Legislators pass laws that allow betting on any University sports or sporting event.

“It would make betting possible even if a college team from New Jersey participates in a Competition. Such bets would be only through casinos and current or former racecourse.“

March Madness 2022 in-game betting

State Senator Paul Sarlo, a Bergen County Democrat, was initially just trying to pave the way for visitors from other states to come to the Prudential Center in Newark for the men’s college basketball event in March Madness in 2025.

However, Sarlo noted that previous opposition from both the NCAA and the state’s college sports programs had all but disappeared over the past three years.

The state’s gaming ban, said former Senator Ray Lesniak, came about a decade ago because he was anxious to pass a sports betting law specifically designed to encourage sports organizations to sue a state betting ban on colleges to appease reluctant lawmakers. That was a move that ultimately paid off.

Assuming the voting question is approved by the voters, lawmakers would then pass an enabling bill clarifying the parameters for state college betting.

The Rutgers soccer team will play eight of their 12 regular season games before the voting takes place, but the Scarlet Knights have high hopes of appearing in a postseason bowl game later this year.

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source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/nj-voters-will-decide-this-fall-on-wagering-on-nj-college-events/