New Jersey starts accepting first legal bets; Lobbying effort could be hurting MLB, NBA

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy placed the first legal sports bet in the Garden State earlier this week.

The result of a nearly decade-long, nationwide legal battle was printed in small black ink on receipts about the size of baseball cards.

$20, Germany to win the World Cup, 7-2 odds. $20, Devils to win the Stanley Cup, 40-1 odds.

The wagers, held aloft by Gov. Philip D. Murphy on Thursday, were the first legal sports bets placed in New Jersey, heralding a new era in the state that began the effort to legalize sports betting as a way of providing a boost to struggling Atlantic City casinos and the state’s racetracks.
New Jersey was the victor in a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that set aside a federal law that had effectively barred sports betting in most of the country.
“There’s an old adage that you bet with your head, not with your heart,” Mr. Murphy said. “So, for the past seven years, our heads and our hearts were in alignment as we fought to overturn an unlawful and unfair federal law.”
Sports betting operations began at two sites in New Jersey — Monmouth Park in Oceanport, near the Jersey Shore, and at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City — and both were overwhelmed by lines of eager gamblers seemingly thrilled to have the chance to part with their money.

 

Monmouth Park’s house rules don’t allow bettors to wager on Rutgers games.

 

ESPN’s Darren Rovell shared a video of the first bets being placed at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.


A Legal Sports Report article suggests the MLB and NBA are hurting themselves while unsuccessfully lobbying for sports betting regulations.

The NBA and Major League Baseball lobbying machine has not yet successfully implemented any policies they want when it comes to sports betting in a state legislature.

What they are doing is creating problems for themselves with public statements and behind-the-scenes dealings.


The Boston Globe published an article on Delaware’s fast track to legal sports betting.

It is late Sunday morning and already the line to place sports bets stretches the length of a city block inside Delaware Park casino.

“This is the greatest thing on earth,” says Tom Schillizzi, a scruffy-bearded excavation worker from Staten Island.

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