Fixed odds wagering moved a step closer to reality in New Jersey when the state Attorney General’s office adopted the state Division of Gaming Enforcement’s regulations for how New Jerseyans can bet.
When finalized, bettors will have to learn the fine points of a system after decades of parimutuel wagering. The main difference: with parimutuel betting, the odds can change even if you bet minutes before post time. With fixed-odds, bettors know the odds stay the same when the wager is placed.
“The regulations are pretty much what I expected,” Monmouth Park operator Dennis Drazin told NJ Online Gambling.
Horsemen worry that fixed-odds betting will cannibalize the parimutuel handle. But Drazin countered that fixed-odds only effect play for win, place and show betting, about a third of the total amount wagered, due wagers like trifectas and Pick-6’s.
Australia-based BetMakers—which would set the fixed odds—is negotiating with racetracks and horsemen across the U.S. New Jerseyans should be able to place a fixed-odds bet on a race taking place in New York “before the end of the year.”
BetMakers reportedly has fixed odds agreements in place with tracks such as Canterbury Park, Colonial Downs, Delaware Park, Emerald Downs, FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing, Grants Pass Downs, Lone Star Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Hawthorne. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority must apply for a license to offer fixed odds, Drazin said.
The state’s harness racing industry prefers to see how their thoroughbred colleagues make out before trying it. The first in-state race featuring fixed odds may not come until next spring, when Monmouth Park resumes its warm-weather thoroughbred meet.
Drazin has been in touch with Colorado which has to deal with whether to treat fixed odds as a “sports bet” or a “horse racing bet.”
Fixed-odds wagers in New Jersey will qualify as horse bets, Drazin said. While consumers might view fixed-odds bets as a sports bet, horse wagering rules will apply. Thus, the minimum age for a fixed odds bet, as with other horse racing picks, is 18, while sports betting is limited to those age 21 and older.
The majority of U.S. tracks already offer fixed odds but only to overseas bettors, that carry such wagers for years.
Fixed odds bettors who deposit a total of $2,500 into their account, will have to acknowledge the capability to establish responsible gaming limits, or close the account.
