NJ loves the money from online sports betting, but fears addictive consequences

TRENTON, N.J. — Online sports betting is reaping recent turnover for recent Jersey but also raising concerns about gambling addiction and potential damage to the finances of Atlantic City’s casinos that depend on in-person gamblers, sports books and issue gambling treatment workers testified Thursday.

The state Legislature held a hearing to examine the impacts of online sports betting, where recent Jersey is a national chief. Its court test to a ban on sports betting in all but four states resulted in a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing any state to propose it; 38 currently do.

The testimony alternated between compliment for the industry’s economic benefits and concern about its harmful potential.

“One can misplace tens of thousands of dollars within minutes simply by picking up a cell phone,” said Felicia Grondin, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of recent Jersey.

More than 90% of sports betting is done online in recent Jersey.

But Jeremy Kudon, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, highlighted the additional money and jobs that online sports betting have brought to the state. The throng consists of sports betting companies FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Fanatics, which together have 89% of recent Jersey’s sports betting trade.

“It’s a tremendous economic achievement narrative,” he said. “Our industry employs over 4,000 people in north Jersey alone. This is bringing an economic boom to the state.”

Through the first nine months of this year, over $9.2 billion has been legally wagered on sports in recent Jersey, with $835 million of that having been kept as turnover by casinos, horse tracks and their online partners.

Over $105 million in online sports betting taxes have been paid to the state over that period, with an additional $2.2 million coming from retail sports bets.

Sports betting money is not solely for the casinos to keep. Like internet gambling money, it must be shared with outside parties including tech platforms and sports books.

Christina Renna, president of the Chamber of Commerce Southern recent Jersey, said the additional jobs and turnover are helping the casinos. But she also noted that the gambling halls’ primary business — money won from in-person gamblers — has not rebounded to the levels of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

“Those 22,000 casino jobs require focus, worry and attention, too,” she said.

Numerous speakers voiced concern about gambling addiction in recent Jersey.

Grondin said 1% to 3% of adults nationwide are issue gamblers; in recent Jersey, that figure is 6%.

Since recent Jersey’s Supreme Court win in 2018, calls to the agency’s 800-GAMBLER assist line have increased by 277%, she said, many of them from youthful adults.

Lori Kalani, chief responsible gaming officer with DraftKings, said her corporation, and the industry as a whole, takes customer protection seriously. She said she grew up in Nevada in a household where gambling addiction was a issue.

“Online gaming is for fun and entertainment,” she said. “We are committed at DraftKings to making sure players play responsibly.”

Kalani said DraftKings has 60 employees dedicated to responsible gambling measures, and regularly contacts customers whose betting behavior indicates a potential issue, offering them assist, and in solemn cases, suspending or terminating their accounts.

Tim Buckley, a elder vice president with the NCAA, supported legislation pending in recent Jersey that would ban bets on the statistical act of college athletes as a way to protect them from online harassment and threats.

He cited the case of University of North Carolina basketball player Armando Bacot, who said in March he had received over 100 direct messages from bettors angry that he had not made enough rebounds during a particular game for their bets to triumph.

Lia Nower, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, said more than two-thirds of gamblers place live bets during games.

“It is in-the-minute,” she said. “Odds transformation, it’s impulsive, it can be affected by alcohol use. youthful people bet in-game a lot.”

She also said 14% of recent Jersey sports bettors reported having thoughts of suicide and 10% actually made an attempt at it.

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