New Jersey voters will decide next week who should govern their state, but also if they’re interested in betting on college sports teams like the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
That’s because one of the questions facing New Jersey residents when they go to the polls on Tuesday will be: “Do you approve amending the Constitution to permit wagering through casinos and current or former horse racetracks on all college sport or athletic events?”
The ballot question and its interpretive statement note that the state’s constitution currently bans wagering on college sporting events that take place in New Jersey, as well as on an event in which a college team from the state is participating.
If enough people vote “yes,” however, that would change. New Jersey's in-person early voting period began last Saturday and will run until Halloween, followed by Election Day itself on November 2.
“This amendment would allow the Legislature to pass laws permitting wagering on any college sport or athletic event,” the ballot question’s interpretive statement adds. “It would permit wagering even if a New Jersey college team participates in the competition. Such wagering would be permitted only through casinos and current or former horse racetracks.”
A whole new ballgame
Sports betting in New Jersey has been allowed since 2018 at casinos, racetracks, and via the online sportsbooks with which those facilities are partnered, such as FanDuel.
However, betting on New Jersey college teams such as Rutgers was prohibited from the start due to worries about the possibility of match-fixing. Now that college athletes can sign name, image, and likeness deals (NIL), those concerns have eased.
Legal sports betting has also blown up in New Jersey without college events on the wagering menu. In September, New Jersey even became the first U.S. state to surpass $1 billion in monthly wagering.
A proposed amendment to the New Jersey constitution to allow for wagering on any college sporting event was passed in June by the state’s legislature. That now requires approval from a majority of voters.
“Out of the twenty-six states that have approved legal sports wagering, New Jersey is the only one to not allow wagering on collegiate sporting events,” Assembly Democrats (and amendment sponsors) Eric Houghtaling and Joann Downey said in a joint statement in June. “If approved by the people of New Jersey, this amendment will allow for further growth in the sports wagering industry.”
Stockton Poll: Murphy Leading Ciattarelli with Pandemic as Major Issue https://t.co/9QQqJaragU pic.twitter.com/RjxL0sTM92
— StocktonHughesCenter (@HughesCenter) September 29, 2021
But the ballot question is no slam dunk.
For example, a recent poll from Stockton University found 45 percent of those it surveyed in September were opposed to allowing gambling on college games that are played in-state or by New Jersey’s schools. Forty percent of respondents supported the proposed constitutional amendment and 14 percent were unsure.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll conducted in June also found 49 percent of those surveyed opposed betting on college sports in New Jersey. Another 25 percent were in support of betting on college sports and the remaining 26 percent were either unsure or didn't want to respond.
“As it is, opposition is some combination of not wanting to change things without understanding the options, and just plain opposition to more expansion of gambling in the state,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson, in a press release. “Supporters have to explain what they’re proposing, and hope that voters are going to buy in.”
