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Governor Murphy Signs Sports Betting Bill
Ending a more than eight-year odyssey to bring sports betting to New Jersey, Gov. Philip D. Murphy signed a bill on Monday that legalizes wagering, making it likely that gambling could start later this week — just in time for the start of the World Cup soccer championship.
For a law that is designed to restore some of the glitz and glamour of Atlantic City casinos, the governor’s signing was the opposite: a signature behind closed doors and a statement emailed to the news media.
“Today, we’re finally making the dream of legalized sports betting a reality for New Jersey,” said Mr. Murphy in a statement announcing that he had signed the bill. “It means that our casinos in Atlantic City and our racetracks throughout our state can attract new business and new fans, boosting their own long-term financial prospects. This is the right move for New Jersey and it will strengthen our economy.”
The last remaining hurdle standing between would-be bettors and, say, a 6-to-1 wager on Spain to win the World Cup, is the licensing process, which is being expedited to accommodate the desire to get betting operations up and running as soon as possible.
It’s the New Jersey Racing Commission that handles the licensing for the racetracks. It has scheduled a meeting on Wednesday, presumably to accept applications and distribute licenses to operators, enabling Monmouth Park to begin accepting bets as early as Thursday. The state’s other two racetracks are still a few weeks away from being fully operational because they need to build venues and train employees.
The casinos are governed by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, which follows a process similar to the racing commission of posting regulations, accepting applications and then distributing licenses.
The Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa is the only casino that is prepared to immediately begin taking bets, transforming some betting windows at its horse-racing facility into a temporary sports-gambling site until a permanent venue is completed. Atlantic City’s six other casinos continue to prepare for sports betting. Some need to build space; others need a sports book partner to set up an operation.
Those hoping to place bets online or through a mobile device will still have to wait to gamble: The legislation includes a clause stating that online sports betting cannot start within 30 days of the bill signing. The establishment of sports betting in New Jersey has been years in the making as the state pursued a legal battle that culminated in last month’s landmark United States Supreme Court decision striking down a law that effectively banned such gambling in most states.
The State Legislature passed the bill on Thursday, but no casino or racetrack could begin taking bets until the governor signed it, leading gamblers, sports betting operators and some lawmakers to clamor for Mr. Murphy to move quickly.
A last-minute amendment to the legislation, removing a line that initially threatened punitive action against any operator that accepted wagers on sporting events before it was signed, still was not enough to open the gates to betting before action from Mr. Murphy.
Dennis A. Drazin, the operator of Monmouth Park who helped lead the charge to make sports betting legal in the state, had been hoping to start taking bets last Friday, in time for Game 4 of the National Basketball Association finals and the start of the Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets.
But the governor held off signing the bill, saying that his office needed to review the legislation for potential legal issues.
“We’re not going to sit on it,” Mr. Murphy said on Friday.
Mr. Murphy, a die-hard soccer fan who used to sit on the board of the U.S. Soccer Foundation and owns a majority stake in Sky Blue FC, a professional women’s soccer team, could place his first bet later this week. While his statement did not indicate any plans to celebrate the advent of sports betting, the governor is scheduled to be the keynote speaker on Thursday at the East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City.