New Jersey Gambling Laws

Gov. Christie also legalized online poker when he signed Assembly Bill 2578 in 2013. The DGE cleared online poker rooms to launch in November 2013. Borgata Poker, PartyPoker, and WSOP.com were the first online poker sites to go live in New Jersey. They had to undergo a five-day soft launch period, and full operations then began.

New Jersey also joined forces with Delaware and Nevada to create the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) in 2013. That interstate gaming compact allowed them to pool players, meaning players in New Jersey could sit at a virtual table alongside players in Delaware and Nevada.

There are now five online poker rooms in New Jersey, as BetMGM Poker and PokerStars have joined Borgata Poker, PartyPoker, and WSOP.com. BetMGM, Borgata, and PartyPoker are all part of the same group, co-owned by Entain and MGM Resorts International, so they share the same pool of players in New Jersey.

NJ online poker rooms are permitted to host tournaments and cash games. They cover Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, and other variants. Online poker rooms also pay a 15% revenue tax in New Jersey, although some lawmakers are trying to increase those rates.

In November 2011, New Jersey voters approved a measure seeking to legalize sports betting by a 2-to-1 margin. Gov. Christie responded to the referendum result by signing Senate Bill S3113 in January 2012.

That bill legalized sports wagering in New Jersey. The goal was to rescue the Garden State’s struggling casino and horse racing industries, which had been jeopardized by the rollout of casinos in neighboring Pennsylvania.

However, there was just one problem: sports betting was still illegal at a federal level. Nevada had an exemption, allowing sportsbooks to flourish in Las Vegas, but states like New Jersey were prevented from launching online and in-person sportsbooks.

New Jersey set out to overturn the ban, which was called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA). The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the professional sports leagues opposed the state’s plans, and a lengthy legal battle ensued.

It finally ended in May 2018, when the US Supreme Court overturned PASPA. The decision in the Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. case invalidated the federal law, paving the way for each state to legalize sports betting if it wanted to.

Gov. Phil Murphy wasted no time in signing Assembly Bill A4111, which legalized online and in-person sports betting. He placed the first legal sports bet at Monmouth Park’s new brick-and-mortar sportsbook on June 14, 2018.

The first online sportsbooks launched in August 2018. That made New Jersey the first state to offer legal online sports wagering in the post-PASPA era. There are now more than 20 online sportsbooks in the Garden State, which are required to operate on the master licenses of land-based casinos.

They can take bets on professional and college sports, but they are not permitted to accept wagers on college games featuring teams based in the state. Online sportsbooks pay a 14.25% revenue tax in New Jersey.

Gov. Christie signed Assembly Bill 3532, a bill legalizing fantasy sports contests, in August 2017. Fantasy sports apps like FanDuel and DraftKings had been accepting players in New Jersey for several years at that point, but the bill provided an official regulatory framework for them.

Anyone aged 18 or older can also place bets at online racebooks in New Jersey. There are three sites to choose from: TVG, 4NJBets, and MonmouthBets. They operate under the legal framework laid down by the New Jersey Racing Commission.

New Jersey has not yet legalized internet lottery (iLottery) games, so you cannot buy tickets or play instant win games online. However, the Garden State does permit online lottery courier services like Jackpocket and Lotto.com to operate.

In December 2016, the state legislature approved the Lottery Courier Act. Gov. Christie quickly signed it into law, making New Jersey the first state to legalize lottery courier services.

You can sign up, make a deposit, and then instruct the site or app to buy a lottery ticket on your behalf. A member of the team will visit a licensed lottery retailer in New Jersey, purchase a physical ticket, and upload a copy on your online account.

The ticket will be held in a secure storage facility. If you win up to $600, the funds will be credited to your online account. In the event that you win a larger prize, the physical ticket will be sent to you by courier, allowing you to claim your winnings in-person or by mail.

Casinos and racetracks in New Jersey were permitted to launch retail sportsbooks after Gov. Murphy signed Assembly Bill 4111 in 2018. The first sports betting lounges opened that summer.

All nine casinos in Atlantic City now offer in-person sports betting. You will also find land-based sportsbooks at racetracks in New Jersey, such as Meadowlands and Monmouth Park.

Racetracks gained a shot in the arm from this development. Meadowlands was a major beneficiary, as New Yorkers would regularly visit the track to bet on sports before the Empire State introduced its own legal sports wagering market in January 2022.

New Jersey is home to the oldest racetrack in the United States. Freehold Raceway can trace its roots back to the 1830s, and it officially launched in 1854.

Monmouth Park opened for business in Oceanport on July 30, 1870. Meadowlands Racetrack then launched in 1976.

All three of those racetracks offer live racing and simulcast racing throughout the year. There are also five off-track betting halls in New Jersey: Favorites at Gloucester Township, Favorites at Toms River, Favorites at Woodbridge, and Winners Bayonne.

The New Jersey Constitution was amended in 1939 to authorize horse racing and pari-mutuel betting. The legislature created the New Jersey Racing Commission the following year.

In 2021, Gov. Murphy signed Assembly Bill A4909, which made New Jersey the first state to legalize fixed-odds betting on horse races. That means horseplayers know exactly how much they will win when they place a bet, rather than relying on the standard pari-mutuel system.

BetMakers, Darby Development and the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association rolled out fixed-odds betting in 2022.

Voters in New Jersey overwhelmingly approved a state lottery when they headed to the ballot boxes in 1969. Gov. William T. Cahill purchased the first NJ lottery ticket in December 1970.

There are now six in-state draw games: Pick 3, Pick 4, Jersey Cash 5 Extra, Pick 6, Quick Draw, and Cash Drop. New Jersey is also a member of three multi-state lottery games: Cash4Life, Mega Millions, and Powerball.

Scratchers and Fast Play games are also available. There are more than 6,000 licensed lottery retailers in New Jersey. You can buy tickets at most convenience stores, or you can use a lottery courier service like Jackpocket. However, lottery courier services will charge deposit fees.