Sports Gambling In New Jersey

By Author: Cheyanne Cooke
Total Articles: 381
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Gambling has long been an issue in the United States, and the states seem to differ on their views of it. While it is illegal in many states, there are many others that are considering it to help out state budgets. One of the states that has recently had legislation and amendments concerning sports gambling is that of New Jersey.

In a recent report by Cantor Fitzgerald (two years ago) it was speculated that legalizing sports gambling in the state's casinos could increase new revenue by almost $600 million a year. The report also suggested that there would be an additional $60 million that could come into the state because of tourism. State senator Ray Lesniak has been working to try and overturn federal laws that restrict sports betting in many states. He is pushing to get an amendment passed that would allow New Jersey to legalize sports betting and also to legalize internet gaming.

Since then it has been proposed that the New Jersey Sports Betting Amendment will appear on the November 8, 2011 ballot. This will be a legislatively-referred constitutional amendment that would allow New Jersey to have sports ...
... betting. After years of work and support, the measure was sent to the actual ballot on Dec. 13, 2010 because it was voted in favor by the state legislature. This new ballot will open up a variety of new sports betting opportunities including professional and amateur betting. These bets could be placed at racetracks as well as casinos in Atlantic City. The bill is known as both ACR 98 as well as SCR 49. The ballot would allow people to place their bets on the telephone, over the internet, or in person. The only places where the ban would take effect would be for New Jersey college games.

The driving forces behind this sports gambling amendment come from Concetta Wagner and previously stated Raymond Lesniak. Concetta has said that there is already sports betting going on in the state but only the criminals are benefitting from it so to legalize it would make sure that additional revenue is brought in.

This amendment has also faced a fair amount of opposition as well. There are two main trade groups and casino companies that don't like the idea. Harrah's Entertainment is a popular casino that thinks the amendment is a bit premature without the backing of federal laws that allow this kind of expansion. The Casino Association of New Jersey also has opposed the amendment and thinks that internet gambling being allowed could be a big mistake. They feel that it actually violates the Wire Act. The main issues have been around the legal framework that surrounds the legalizing of gambling in any state.

Gambling laws are changing all over the country but New Jersey looks to be one of the states at the forefront of legalizing sports gambling to help increase revenue and make legal something that is already going on so that the state can benefit from it. It is too soon to tell what will happen, but come November there should be a pretty definite answer.

AUTHOR:-
Cheyanne Cooke writes reviews on various sporting events including the sports betting websites. In this piece of write up, the author highlights one of the most popular sports and online betting.