New Jersey Passes Sportsbetting Bill

New Jersey's Assembly and Senate have officially passed a sportsbetting bill that will allow the Garden State to have a full sportsbetting industry, coming shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor.

The sportsbetting bill will now go to the desk of Governor Phil Murpphy, where he's expected to sign it into law. This will open New Jersey casinos and racetracks to begin offering the service in their state, potentially creating a huge industry that will rake in millions of dollars annually. Casinos will face a sportsbetting tax rate of 8.5%, with online wagers taxed at 13%. Online bets won't be able to be taken until 30 days after the law is signed.

Some speculation revealed that the Golden Nugget wouldn't be able to offer sports wagers, as the casino's owner also owns the NBA's Houston Rockets, but the bill will allow the casino to offer wagers on all sports except basketball.

Professional sports leagues are upset with the measure, as they wanted to be paid integrity fees to fund anti-corruption measures for their sports. Lawmakers weren't having that argument, though, as they claim the leagues were just looking for extra money.

Commenting on the lack of an integrity fee, the NBA, MLB, and PGA issued a statement, which read: "The legislation does not include basic protections to mitigate risks to the integrity of sports and to ensure fairness for New Jersey consumers.

"The bill allows for the creation of non-transparent betting markets that deny sports leagues critical tools to monitor betting activity and conduct integrity investigations.

"Additionally, the bill does not require casinos or the regulator to notify sports leagues of potential match fixing or other improper conduct."

It's unknown when Governor Murphy will sign the bill into law, but it's expected that sportsbetting will begin being offered very shortly thereafter.