New Poll Shows New Jersey Residents Want Legalized Sports Betting in State
A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Tuesday morning reveals that 45 percent of New Jersey residents believe sports betting should be legalized while 38 percent prefer waiting for Congress to repeal a current federal ban. Just under 1000 individuals took part in the survey.
53 percent of men support the idea while 35 oppose. 38 percent of women support while slightly more oppose at 41 percent.
“The numbers suggest that men are more accustomed to placing sports bets, especially in informal settings like an office, so their green light to legalize sports betting even in defiance of federal law should come as no surprise,” said Krista Jenkins, a political science professor and executive director of the poll.
The poll also showed that Republicans support the idea more than Democrats.
Governor Chris Christie signed legislation allowing sports betting in the Garden State after voters approved a referendum by a 2-1 margin last November.
Early this month the professional sports league and NCAA filed a lawsuit to try and prevent New Jersey from enacting legalized sports wagering.
Joe Brennan, Jr. of the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (imega.org), a grassroots organization behind the push to bring sports betting to the state, told Gambling911.com that the suit will do little to hinder progress in getting such a measure passed.
“The leagues should not get an injunction since they cannot prove irreparable harm,” Brennan noted, with a sports betting measure expected to be approved in November.
Jeff Ifrah, a noted gambling industry attorney, offered this assessment to Gambling911.com:
“This case will come down to two questions: will the sports leagues succeed on their argument that New Jersey is prohibited from offering sports betting, and can the sports leagues demonstrate that if sports betting move forward, the leagues will be irreparably harmed?
“The answer to both is unquestionably no. PASPA - the federal law that the sports leagues rely on is clearly unconstitutional – in fact, in 1991, the DOJ itself informed the Senate committee considering PASPA that the DOJ opposed PASPA because the decision on how a state raises revenue is left to the states, not the federal government.
“And even if the sports leagues could succeed on this argument, they will fail because they cannot show irreparable harm to their industry. Indeed, states like Nevada already permit sports betting so how does it harm the leagues to permit New Jersey to offer sports betting as well?”
The survey results come at a time when Atlantic City’s newest casino, Revel, is in desperate need of new revenue streams, with sports betting a potential cash cow.
Following a slow start out of the gate and a $35 million operating loss, Revel is asking its lenders to increase the amount of credit it can draw on.
The casino, which opened in April, has $30 million worth of credit, but wants to increase that to $100 million.
Revel has been mired in 8th place out of Atlantic City's 12 casinos in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers, and analysts say it's not taking in nearly enough to make its interest payments.
Brennan has argued that legalized sports wagering in the state would result in countless number of jobs produced along with millions more dollars to help Atlantic City’s ailing gambling sector, including properties like Revel.
“The opponents of state-regulated sports betting have a difficult time convincing legislators that the status quo is acceptable,” Brennan, Jr. said. “Not regulating a financial market of more than $500 billion is an invitation to corruption, not the prevention of corruption.”
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
