Legalized sports betting is coming to New Jersey.
The U-S Supreme Court has ruled in New Jersey's favor, striking down a 1992 federal law restricting sports wagering to Nevada and three other states.
Former state Senator Ray Lesniak has been fighting for years to legalize sports betting in New Jersey and he's thrilled with the court’s decision.
“It’s going to be a big boost for Atlantic City, a big boost for Monmouth Racetrack. It’ll bring people to those venues, keep jobs, create jobs, benefit the state of New Jersey. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars a year.”
Governor Phil Murphy says he'll work with the legislature on a law setting state regulations for sports wagering.
Senate President Steve Sweeney hopes the Senate will approve that bill at its next voting session on June 7th.
“Obviously we’re going to deal with a lot of things. There’s taxes. How is it going to be taxed? How it’s going to be allowed to be run. There won’t be any integrity fees. The leagues wanted integrity fees. Why would we provide funding? Las Vegas has done this forever and never provided any funding to the leagues.”
Assemblyman John Burzichelli anticipates an Assembly vote on that bill as soon as next week.
He says it would give New Jersey a competitive edge for a while until other states that will benefit from the Supreme Court ruling also approve sports wagering.
“Pennsylvania will act quickly. New York will act quickly. Delaware will act quickly. Maryland will act quickly. They all have casinos. So we’ll probably have a short advantage.”