New Jersey Lawmakers Advance College Player Prop Betting Ban

A bill that would prohibit college gamer props at sportsbooks in New Jersey is getting traction in the legislature.


The New Jersey Assembly's tourist, video gaming, and arts committee voted Thursday to release A4905, advancing the legislation and moving it closer to passage in Trenton.


A4905 - and its twin in the New Jersey Senate, S3080 - would prohibit sportsbooks from offering or accepting "any wager on a player-specific proposition bet on any college sport or athletic occasion."


In other words, there would be no more college gamer props for Garden State punters at in your area managed sportsbooks if the expense ends up being law.


While New Jersey sports wagering rules prohibit wagering on in-state college teams, they allow banking on college player props, a minimum of for now.


"As one of the first states to legislate sports betting, I think that it is our obligation to guarantee that we set the very best example we potentially can for all others who wish to follow our lead," said Democratic Assemblyman Sterley Stanley, A4905's sponsor, in a statement following the committee vote. "Even as a strong advocate of the sports wagering industry, I believe it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge the unbelievable pressures that college athletes deal with between their scholastic and athletic obligations. My legislation ensures that they do not have actually those pressures intensified by issue bettors that have actually concerned harass our college professional athletes when bettors lose money on college gamer proposition bets."


Be 'reasonable'


If New Jersey were to prohibit college player props, it would continue the current trend of states kiboshing those wagering markets over issues of student-athlete harassment and abuse, to name a few things.


The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and its president, former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, have been lobbying states for prop bans with those concerns in mind. The NCAA supports A4905.


"Sports wagering is on the increase, and with it, so is the risk for college professional athletes, and there is no question they are getting bugged by gamblers," Austin Meo, the assistant director of government relations for the NCAA, told the Assembly committee on Thursday. "That threatens the stability of the game, and it threatens the wellness of college athletes everywhere."


Meo said that 20 states allow props in some kind. However, he likewise noted that at the start of 2024, there were 24 states, before Ohio, Maryland, Vermont, and Louisiana moved this year to restrict those wagering markets.


"Taking an affordable step that half the states with sports wagering have required to restrict prop bets is something New Jersey can do to help react to this severe concern," Meo said.


Highway to 'hell'


There is no assurance New Jersey will go through with a college gamer prop ban, although current history recommends there is a chance. Nevertheless, A4905 and S3080 will face opposition from certified sportsbook operators and other interested celebrations in the Garden State, among the most fully grown markets for legal sports wagering in the U.S.


Lobbyist Bill Pascrell, of Princeton Public Affairs Group, told the Assembly committee on Thursday that there is "no proof or favorable info" from the concerned celebrations that enabling prop bets makes gamers more susceptible than allowing betting on college teams.


Pascrell stated banning college gamer props will move that action to illegal and offshore sportsbooks, even if that action is a fairly little portion of all sports wagering.


"The states do not have the long arm of the law to reach the black market," Pascrell said in opposing the costs. "This ensures that folks that bet this type of prop bet, and it's a little segment of the industry, around 2 to 4%, will simply go to the black market. And we do not see any evidence positive that by offering this bet, we're making folks more vulnerable, because the bet will simply move to the black market."


Pascrell stated New Jersey's ban on in-state college wagering pressed banking on those schools in basketball competitions to the black market or sportsbooks in nearby states.


"I understand this expense has the best of objectives, but I believe in some cases the street to hell is paved by the finest of intents, and I think we need to reconsider this concern, since I'm concerned about the explosion of the black market and this will help those in the black market," Pascrell informed the committee.


College player prop wagering is finished in Ohio since March 1. Matthew Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, revealed today he approved the NCAA's request to prohibit such betting. Any staying futures should be voided by next Friday.