In addition to choosing a governor, New Jersey voters will be asked whether to expand sports betting to include New Jersey colleges or any collegiate event held in the state. March Madness, for example.
Former state Senator Ray Lesniak, who led the push to get sports betting at the tracks and casinos, isn’t optimistic about its chances.
“I’m thinking that it probably won’t pass,” Lesniak told NJ Online Gambling.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released in July supported his concern. The prohibition the referendum seeks to overturn applies to events involving state schools, or the occasional in-state event held between two out-of-state schools. Lesniak said that he believes that a targeted advertising campaign funded by large sportsbook operators in the state could have been quite effective.
“I think that would put it over the top, but apparently those interests don’t consider this important enough,” Lesniak said. “The biggest disappointment will be for Rutgers fans like me.”
The state has only one top-tier football program—Rutgers—and that university also was the only one in the state to qualify for March Madness in 2020. That meant that 65 of the 67 men’s college tournament games were up for wagers in New Jersey in 2020, as Rutgers won its opening-round game before being eliminated.
The ballot question itself is clearer than the FDU poll query:
“A ‘yes’ vote supports this constitutional amendment to allow wagering on postseason college sport competitions held in N.J. and competitions in which a N.J.-based college team participates.
“A ‘no’ vote opposes this constitutional amendment, thus continuing to prohibit wagering on postseason college sport competitions held in N.J. or involving a N.J.-based college team but allowing wagering on other college competitions.”
The decade-old ballot sports betting question, which passed by a 2-to-1 margin, did not include in-state college betting, Lesniak said, because of concerns expressed by state lawmakers and the perception that voters also might not be comfortable with such wagers.
