NJ Online Sports Betting
Sports betting and online gambling are currently expanding rapidly in the US gambling market. Up until May 2018, sports betting was illegal, due to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) act passed in 1992.
PASPA belonged to a federal set of laws. This means that all the states in the US could not regulate sports betting. The only state in which it remained legal to bet on sports was Nevada, as it had already regulated betting before PASPA enactment.
Two and a half decades later, the PASPA federal regulation has been struck down. This has given the liberty to every state to regulate sports betting laws. As New Jersey had been preparing for the PASPA abolishment for a long time now, the state has quickly managed to completely regulate all types of betting with legal online sportsbooks. This is something we will discuss further in the text. Let’s move onto details about sports betting in New Jersey.
NJ sports betting leads the PASPA repeal
In 2010, a referendum proved to the then-NJ governor Chris Christie that there was quite a lot of support within the Garden State to bring legal sports betting to New Jersey. By 2012, NJ had passed a law that regulated sports betting on the basis that PASPA was unconstitutional because the federal government was overstepping its boundaries into states’ rights territory.
In the lower courts, New Jersey had little success in trying to pass their regulated sports betting laws. The NCAA, NBA, NFL, NFL, and MLB were all against this outcome and preferred to keep sports betting in NJ as a prohibited activity.
After some appeals, the Supreme Court heard NJ’s case against PASPA in December 2017 (although Chris Christie was long gone by then, and now replaced by Phil Murphy). The case was called Murphy v. NCAA and was combined with another issue, NJ Thoroughbred Horsemen v. NCAA, relating to commercial interests and PASPA.
When all was said and done. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the whole of PASPA was unconstitutional and thus NJ sports betting had its blockade removed and was free to begin building its sports betting businesses and infrastructure.
The first sports bets in NJ
NJ casinos and sports betting operators across the pond have been clamoring for a piece of the NJ sports betting pie since the PASPA repeal. Even Governor Murphy was happy to begin betting on sports. He placed two $20, largely ceremonial, bets. One was for Germany to win the soccer World Cup (which was currently about to take place at the time) and the other was the New Jersey Devils to win the Stanley Cup in 2019.
The NJ governor’s first bet was a miss but it remains to be seen whether or not his $20 wager will turn around and payout. If it does, surely the whole of NJ will be celebrating because that means their precious Devils will have just won the Stanley Cup!
Online sports betting in NJ
Sports betting is fully regulated in NJ. That means that there are many places where you’re allowed to place sports wagers. You can go into a retail sports bar, of course, make sports bets online, or even download mobile apps to easily bet on the go. Online sports betting is, in our opinion, the best way to go about wagering on sports. This is for the ease and convenience.
You can skip betting windows and long lines to turn in your papers just by opening a sports betting app. Additionally, on apps the lines are updated in real-time and you can make bets quickly.
Here are all the places you can sports bet online in NJ:
| Sports bet online at: | Year Opened |
|---|---|
| Fanduel | 2018 |
| 888Sport | 2018 |
| SugarHouse | 2018 |
| BetStars | 2018 |
| PointsBet | 2018 |
| Caesars | 2018 |
| PlayMGM | 2018 |
Learn more about sports betting, online casinos, and horse race betting in Pennsylvania by visiting our Sister-Site, Bet-PA.
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West Virginia is live with sports betting too! Find out the specifics of where to bet on sports online if you’re from the Mountain State on Bet-WV.
Read moreWhat are NJ Gambling Laws?
New Jersey covers a lot of different gambling laws. We are going to go over the most important regulations you should know about. Your questions of NJ sports betting legality, what is the required NJ gambling age, or whether online casinos are playable will be answered shortly.
- Casino gambling is completely legal, as long as the online casino is owned by a land-based casino. Another option for the online casino is to partner with a land-based casino in order to go live.
- Poker is also completely regulated. Both the poker games in Atlantic City and online poker is legal.
- Bingo games are also legal in New Jersey, as well as online Bingo games.
- Sports betting is completely regulated. In fact, New Jersey is one of the first states to legalize sports betting.
- Lottery is legal ever since 1970.
As you can see, all betting and gambling activities are completely legally regulated by the NJ gambling commission. However, not all residents are eligible to bet and gamble. There are requirements that customers ought to fulfill as well.
- You need to be 21 years of age or above to play with real money.
- You must be located on the territory of New Jersey while playing.
- You don’t have to be a resident of New Jersey.
- You can fund your account from any state in the USA, but you can only play from New Jersey.
Now you know what you can do in the New Jersey territory. Feel free to play and bet online, but make sure to meet the state requirements.
We hope that you like the content we have prepared for you. If you want to learn more about each brand individually, you can head over to their review pages and learn more about them.
How to Bet in NJ?
Since betting is completely regulated in New Jersey, learning how to bet in NJ is quite easy. There are a couple of options open for you.
- Land-based betting – You can freely walk in numerous establishments across the NJ and place your bet on your favorite team.
- Online sports betting – You can go online and place your bet on your favorite brand. In the whole process, as all of the brands are new, feel free to make use of a promo code to activate a welcome bonus. For example, we have the Sugarhouse Sportsbook Bonus Code.
- Online mobile sports betting – Not only has New Jersey regulated online betting, but it has also managed to regulate mobile sports betting. Therefore, you can even bet on the go while you are in NJ.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways in which you can bet on sports in New Jersey. You can try out our betting odds calculator too.
Sports betting tips
No matter if you are a passionate bettor or not, knowing a thing or two about betting might improve the whole experience.
For the majority of people, betting is a type of entertainment that carries a potential for a very positive outcome in the form of a financial reward. But also, many tend to get carried away with the reward and forget about the entertainment part.
Therefore, the first tip that would be good to apply is to have a betting bankroll. Know how much money you can play with. The moment you exceed the amount, stop betting and wait for the moment when you can afford it again. This will make the whole experience more entertaining and put it under control.
When it comes to betting, you can apply different approaches. Kamikaze stands for picking random bets without thinking it through. There is simply a higher chance that you are going to lose your bet.
On the other hand, fixed betting serves to put limitations on your bets. For example, you limit every bet that you put on $5. You precisely know how much you are staking and what you can expect. No matter how certain you are about winning or losing, you know that you have staked a small amount of money. With fixed betting, you are immediately limiting your financial losses.
If you feel like you want to experiment, varied betting. This means that you only bet on those who are “certainly” going to win. Here you will win a smaller amount of money, but the whole experience is going to be much more entertaining.
No matter what your style of betting is, an important tip is to carefully pick your favorite betting places. Not one, but several. Work with several different brands, as different opportunities are there with different brands. Your goal should be to find online sportsbooks that are reputable, offers good odds, awesome bonus, and promotions, while it is also safe. The longer it is in business, the better.
States in Which Gambling is Illegal
Don’t get carried away with the great state of gambling in New Jersey. There are still plenty of states where gambling is illegal. Let’s take a look at them.
- Alaska
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- New Hampshire
- Georgia
- Wisconsin
- Florida
- Texas
The states listed above have not yet given in to what many other states have already embraced. It is good to know in which of the states gambling is considered illegal. Of course, not all are equally strict, but it is better to know where you should not think about gambling at all.
NJ sports betting FAQs
We aim to quickly address any common questions that you might have about betting on sports online or in real sportsbooks in New Jersey.
Is it legal to bet on sports in NJ?
Yes! NJ was the instigator for the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and because of this, every US state can now choose to regulate their own sports betting industry. The Garden State, however, was one of the fastest movers and betting on sports in-person and online via mobile is totally legal. Just make sure you sign up at a regulated bookmaker.
Is betting on horses in NJ allowed?
Yes! Horse race betting is somewhat of a legacy activity in the USA. Online operators have existed for taking horse racing bets even before sports betting was legalized and many states allow for on-track horse wagering. However, many operators tend to focus on either sports betting or horse racing, not both. Although we expect this to change in the near future as more and more betting platforms compete for the best user experience.
Can I make online sports bets from NJ?
Yes! As long as you’re physically present in NJ, you can bet on sports online or on mobile with an app. As soon as you cross a state line, however, you’ll be unable to make a bet because the regulated sports betting rules only cover NJ.
Is mobile sports wagering allowed?
Yes! Although only a few sportsbooks have sports betting apps (see our table from earlier), mobile or app-based sports betting is totally allowed. You just need to be physically present in the Garden State to bet on sports from your phone. Some operators have merged their sports betting and casino apps into one to ensure the best gambling experience.
What sports can I bet on?
You can bet on all professional sports so long as your chosen bookmaker provides the right money lines. That means some obscure professional sports, like badminton, might not be covered by a sportsbook even though it is technically legal to place a bet on that particular sport. There is a small restriction on college sports betting though.
Is college sports betting allowed in NJ?
Yes, mostly. You can bet on college sports, just not teams from NJ Universities. Unfortunately, that means no bets on Rutgers and Seton Hall can be placed.
Are there wagering restrictions?
Yes. You must be physically present in the state to bet on sports online in NJ (this will be verified with a geo-locator). Also, of course, you must be above the legal gambling age of 21.
Can I still play daily fantasy sports?
Yes! The new sports betting legislation has no effect on fantasy sports. If you’d like to continue playing fantasy sports, go ahead. No new rules have been added.
