New Jersey’s chief gaming regulator David Rebuck has a simple message for offshore bookmakers who accept illegal U.S. bets—you’ll never be licensed in his state, and may be barred from operating in other states too.
“A word of caution,” Rebuck told the All-American Sports Betting Summit audience at the Jersey Shore racetrack Monmouth Park. “We made a decision in New Jersey a long time ago: If you engage in taking offshore bets, or if you engage with or support companies that take bets outside of the U.S. from American customers with an offshore site…. You’ll never get licensed in New Jersey. So don’t waste your time. You’ve made your bed in the past, and you’ll have to live with it for a very long time.”
Rebuck underscored the remarks by pointing out the state’s six years of success in online gaming, now followed up by one year of legal sports betting. “If you’re not licensed in New Jersey, then I don’t know where you’ve been for the last 12 months,” Rebuck said. “If you’re licensed and operational—or even if you’ve just been approved—no state in the United States is going to find you unsuitable if you have our approval.”’
Rebuck also praised officials in states that have recently passed sports betting without “convoluted” language in their laws that he said would slow down the process considerably.
“My staff continues to work with out-of-state regulators and as they come in, I think they have a sense of relief in that the models that we have developed—they have confidence in them,” Rebuck said. “And by the time the end of August and football season rolls around, a number of these states—they’re going to make it.”
