New Jersey Lawmakers Advance College Player Prop Betting Ban

A costs that would player props at sportsbooks in New Jersey is getting traction in the legislature.


The New Jersey Assembly's tourism, video gaming, and arts committee voted Thursday to release A4905, advancing the legislation and moving it closer to passage in Trenton.


A4905 - and its twin in the New Jersey Senate, S3080 - would ban sportsbooks from using or accepting "any wager on a player-specific proposition bet on any college sport or athletic occasion."


To put it simply, there would disappear college gamer props for Garden State punters at in your area controlled sportsbooks if the expense ends up being law.


While New Jersey sports wagering rules prohibit betting on in-state college teams, they permit betting on college gamer props, at least for now.


"As one of the very first states to legislate sports gambling, I think that it is our responsibility to guarantee that we set the very best example we possibly can for all others who wish to follow our lead," stated Democratic Assemblyman Sterley Stanley, A4905's sponsor, in a statement following the committee vote. "Even as a staunch fan of the sports betting industry, I believe it is incumbent upon us to recognize the extraordinary pressures that college professional athletes deal with in between their academic and athletic responsibilities. My legislation guarantees that they do not have actually those pressures intensified by problem gamblers that have come to bug our college athletes when bettors lose cash on college player proposal bets."


Be 'sensible'


If New Jersey were to prohibit college player props, it would continue the recent pattern of states kiboshing those betting markets over concerns of student-athlete harassment and abuse, to name a few things.


The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its president, previous Massachusetts guv Charlie Baker, have actually been lobbying states for prop restrictions with those issues in mind. The NCAA supports A4905.


"Sports wagering is on the increase, and with it, so is the threat for college athletes, and there is no concern they are getting harassed by bettors," Austin Meo, the assistant director of federal government relations for the NCAA, told the Assembly committee on Thursday. "That threatens the stability of the game, and it threatens the wellbeing of college athletes everywhere."


Meo stated that 20 states enable college gamer props in some form. However, he also kept in mind that at the start of 2024, there were 24 states, before Ohio, Maryland, Vermont, and Louisiana moved this year to limit those wagering markets.


"Taking an affordable action that half the states with sports wagering have actually taken to restrict prop bets is something New Jersey can do to assist respond to this severe issue," Meo stated.


Highway to 'hell'


There is no warranty New Jersey will go through with a college player prop restriction, although current history recommends there is a possibility. Nevertheless, A4905 and S3080 will face opposition from certified sportsbook operators and other interested parties in the Garden State, among the most mature markets for legal sports betting in the U.S.


Lobbyist Bill Pascrell, of Princeton Public Affairs Group, told the Assembly committee on Thursday that there is "no proof or favorable information" from the worried celebrations that permitting prop bets makes players more susceptible than enabling betting on college groups.


Pascrell said banning college gamer props will move that action to unlawful and overseas sportsbooks, even if that action is a fairly small portion of all sports wagering.


"The states don't have the long arm of the law to reach the black market," Pascrell stated in opposing the bill. "This guarantees that folks that wager this type of prop bet, and it's a small section of the market, around 2 to 4%, will just go to the black market. And we don't see any proof positive that by offering this bet, we're making folks more vulnerable, because the bet will just transfer to the black market."


Pascrell stated New Jersey's ban on in-state college betting pressed betting on those schools in basketball competitions to the black market or sportsbooks in neighboring states.


"I know this costs has the very best of objectives, but I think often the highway to hell is paved by the best of objectives, and I think we should reassess this problem, due to the fact that I'm worried about the explosion of the black market and this will assist those in the black market," Pascrell told the committee.


College player prop betting is finished in Ohio as of March 1. Matthew Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, announced today he approved the NCAA's demand to prohibit such betting. Any staying futures should be voided by next Friday.