N.J. state Senate panel OKs sports-betting bill
A state Senate committee offered its support Monday for consideration of an amendment to the state Constitution that would allow betting on professional and college sports at Atlantic City casinos and the state’s racetracks.
The resolution’s supporters — most of them reluctant for a variety of reasons — included Democrat Bob Gordon of Fair Lawn, as well as Republicans Kevin O’Toole of Cedar Grove and Anthony Bucco of Boonton.
The push for New Jersey sports betting still has a long way to go — including overcoming a federal ban on such wagering in New Jersey and most other states.
But Barbara DeMarco, a lobbyist for the racing industry, hailed the vote as some of the best news for the tracks regarding sports betting in decades. That’s because previous legislative discussions through the years often focused on adding such betting only at Atlantic City’s casinos.
“It’s huge,” DeMarco said after the hearing in Trenton. “I feel as if for once, the Davids had a say, as opposed the Goliaths.”
DeMarco was describing the horse racing industry as the “little guy” in a battle against Atlantic City’s casino industry — though both carry significant weight in state politics.
The proposal — sponsored by state Sens. Ray Lesniak, D-Union, and Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape may — that most of the committee thought was on the table was the one eventually approved. that would allow for sports betting at the tracks whenever the tracks were open for betting.
But a last-minute amended version would have limited the tracks to taking sports bets — which currently only takes place legally in Nevada — during times when the tracks were offering live racing. It would mean that on the many days when the tracks offer only simulcast betting on races at tracks elsewhere, there would be no sports betting.
Committee Chairman James Whelan, D-Atlantic, called the change “a reasonable compromise” in the face of South Jersey opposition to any sports betting at tracks.
But the change brought an immediate show of disapproval from DeMarco, who was about to testify. several committee members also expressed confusion, and because none of them offered to make a motion for a vote, that resolution was tabled.
Whelan then asked for a motion on the original resolution, and it passed, 4-0, with Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, abstaining.
Any measure passed in Trenton would prohibit wagers on collegiate sporting events in New Jersey and on any games featuring New Jersey college teams, regardless of location.
Lesniak said he hoped to have the full Senate take up the bill Feb. 22. He also said the bill could again be amended to limit sports betting at the tracks.
“It makes sense to only have that betting during racing meets,” Lesniak said. “We don’t want the tracks having Super Bowl parties — we want those people to be in Atlantic City.”
Still, Lesniak warned that the Atlantic City casinos and their supporters “have to wake up to the fact that there are other parts of the state interested in benefiting from gambling in the state, including Monmouth [home of Monmouth Park racetrack] and Bergen.”
Gordon said that “the bill should get a full hearing on the floor, and I won’t stand in its way,” Gordon said. “But I’m concerned about gambling addicts and how sports betting can be a gambling entry point for young people.”
As for why he backed the measure that would offer even more widespread betting at tracks, he said it would not make sense to allow casinos to fully benefit at the expense of the Meadowlands Racetrack.
“I put my Bergen hat on that point,” Gordon said.
O’Toole also expressed reservations, saying that he only voted at this point to get it out of committee.
Turner said that she sees the sports betting efforts as the Legislature “continuing to look for a magic bullet.”
“What we really should be doing is being more fiscally responsible by cutting spending rather than finding more ways to spend money that comes out of residents’ pockets,” she said.
Federal law has banned since 1992 sports betting in any state except for Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon, and the latter three would only be able to offer limited parlay wagering. Lesniak’s law firm has filed a federal lawsuit citing unequal treatment of states.
E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com
