Gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

includes

casino gambling A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

, the

New Jersey Lottery The New Jersey Lottery is run by the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its In-house draw games are: Pick-3, Pick-4, Jersey Cash 5, Pick-6, Quick Draw, and Cash Pop. Its multi-jurisdictional draw games are: Cash4Life, Mega Millions, and Powerball. The ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

off-track betting Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) is sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track. U.S. history Before the 1970s, only the state of Nevada allowed off-track betting. Off-track betting in New York was ...

charity gambling Charity gambling is a "form of incentivized giving" where a charity (or a group of charities), rather than a municipality or private casino, oversees gambling activities such as bingo, roulette, lottery, and slot machines and uses the proceeds t ...

, amusement games, and social gambling. New Jersey's gambling laws are among the least restrictive in the United States. In 2013, the state began to allow in-state

online gambling Online gambling is any kind of gambling conducted on the internet. This includes virtual poker, casinos and sports betting. The first online gambling venue opened to the general public was ticketing for the Liechtenstein International Lottery in ...

. Five years later, the state won a lawsuit that dismantled Nevada's monopoly on legal

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

History

Early era

Gambling has a long legacy in New Jersey, with the state historically being more permissive of gambling than most other states. Until they were banned in 1844, lotteries were common in New Jersey. They were used to help pay for the military during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, and help finance the construction of Queen's College (now

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

) and the College of New Jersey (now

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

Freehold Raceway Freehold Raceway is a half-mile racetrack in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, and is the oldest racetrack in the United States. Horseraces have been taking place at Freehold Raceway since the 1830s. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society was for ...

is the oldest

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...

in the United States, with horse racing having taken place there informally since the 1830s. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society was formed on December 17, 1853, and in 1854 they began holding an annual fair with

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

Monmouth Park Racetrack Monmouth Park Racetrack is an American race track for thoroughbred horse racing in Oceanport, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and is operated under a five-year lease as a partnership with ...

opened in 1870. In 1894, the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

banned

parimutuel gambling Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winni ...

, and in 1897 the voters of New Jersey approved a referendum which amended the state constitution to ban all gambling (or possibly all commercial gambling).

Expansion of gambling

From 1894 to 1939, all gambling was theoretically outlawed in New Jersey, but enforcement was spotty, and it is not clear whether social gambling was prohibited.

Bookmaking A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

numbers game The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a be ...

s, and

slot machines A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively as ...

were common through the state, many churches and other

non-profit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

openly held

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

s, and Freehold Raceway operated without interruption. Racetrack gambling was re-legalized in 1939. In 1953, voters approved a referendum to officially allow non-profit organizations to have bingo and raffles. In 1959, amusement games were re-legalized after a 1957 court decision had declared them to be a form of illegal gambling. In 1970, 81.5% of New Jersey voted in favor of a referendum creating the

, and in 1975, New Jersey initiated the Pick-It (later renamed the Pick-3), the first legal lottery game in the United States in which buyers could pick their own numbers. In 1974, New Jersey voters voted against legalizing casino gambling statewide, but two years later approved a new referendum that legalized casinos, but restricted them to

. At that time,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

was the only state with legal casino gambling.

Resorts Atlantic City Resorts Casino Hotel is a hotel and casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Resorts was the first casino hotel in Atlantic City, becoming the first legal casino outside of Nevada in the United States, when it opened on May 26, 1978. The resort comp ...

was the first casino to open in 1978. In 2006, an impasse over the state's budget between then-governor Jon Corzine and the state legislature resulted in a lengthy state government shutdown at the height of the summer tourist season; this caused the temporary closure of all of Atlantic City's casinos (as well as racetracks throughout the state) because New Jersey law states that gambling establishments can not legally operate without government oversight from the

New Jersey Casino Control Commission The Casino Control Commission is a New Jersey state governmental agency that was founded in 1977 as the state's Gaming Control Board, responsible under the Casino Control Act for licensing casinos in Atlantic City. The commission also issues lic ...

. The closures cost the state an estimated $1.3 million in casino revenues in addition to the loss of state taxes collected on casino employee wages. As of early 2021, Atlantic City's gaming revenue has still not returned to its 2006 peak. Arguably, the temporary shutdown of Atlantic City's casinos in 2006 encouraged neighboring states to continue developing their own gaming industries.

Sports betting

In January 2012,

New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in Ne ...

signed legislation allowing sports betting in New Jersey after it was approved by a 2-to-1 margin in a voter referendum held in November 2011. The law permits any of the state's 12 casinos and 4 racetracks to offer gambling on

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

and

college sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

, but prohibits them from accepting bets on college events played in New Jersey, or out-of-state games involving New Jersey college teams. The

New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that was established in 1977 under the Casino Control Act, N.J.S.A. to ensure the integrity of the casino gaming industry, including spor ...

subsequently issued regulations for sports betting. The

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA), the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

filed a federal lawsuit against New Jersey to prevent sports betting, based on the

Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (), also known as PASPA or the Bradley Act, was a law, judicially-overturned in 2018, that was meant to define the legal status of sports betting throughout the United States. This act ...

of 1992 which banned sports betting in all but four states. In February 2013,

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

judge Michael A. Shipp ruled in favor of the athletic leagues, and barred New Jersey from issuing sports betting licenses. The court ruled that under the

Commerce Clause The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...

of the

United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...

, the regulation of gambling and the granting of a

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

to four states is within Congress's power. In September 2013, a

three-judge panel A judicial panel is a set of judges who sit together to hear a cause of action, most frequently an appeal from a ruling of a trial court judge. Panels are used in contrast to single-judge appeals, and hearings, which involves all of the judges of ...

from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to uphold Shipp's decision. Christie said he will appeal the case to the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. In 2014, New Jersey challenged the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) which had effectively grandfathered Nevada's federal statutory monopoly on legal

. On June 27, 2017, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. On May 14, 2018, the court issued its opinion in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (the case had been renamed due to the election of

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

as governor). The Court overturned the Appeals Court decision, ruling that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional.

Justice Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...

wrote the opinion supporting New Jersey's assertion. This allowed New Jersey to move ahead with plans to implement legalized sports betting. On June 11, 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed Assembly Bill 4111, legalizing sports betting at casinos and racetracks within New Jersey. It also allowed casinos and racetracks to seek approval for online and mobile sports betting after thirty days. The first online sports bet was taken in August 2018. As of 2020, there are 17 legal online sportsbooks licensed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Online gambling

In January 2011, the

passed a bill sponsored by

Raymond Lesniak Raymond J. "Ray" Lesniak (born May 7, 1946) is an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1983 to 2018, where he represented the 20th Legislative District. Before entering New Jersey's upper house, t ...

to allow online gambling by New Jersey residents over 21. Because the state constitution allows casino gambling only in Atlantic City, the legislation specified that the computer servers operating the online gambling websites must be located at licensed casinos in Atlantic City. The Lesniak bill evaded possible federal prohibitions against online gambling by authorizing the Casino Control Commission to create regulations to ensure the bets were placed from inside New Jersey. However, Governor Chris Christie

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

ed the legislation because of concerns that "allowing customers to bet through any computer terminal left open the chance of commercial businesses such as nightclubs and cafes becoming gambling hubs around the state", and "the bill further created a legal fiction that a bet placed anywhere in New Jersey counted as an Atlantic City bet". In December 2011, the

United States Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

issued a legal opinion that the Federal Wire Act prohibits only online

, not online casino games. John Wefing, a constitutional scholar at

Seton Hall Law School Seton Hall University School of Law is the law school of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law is the only private law school in New Jersey, and, according to the ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranking ...

, told a state

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

committee that he did not believe a constitutional amendment was needed to authorize online gambling because "any online poker bet would not be completed until a server in Atlantic City accepted the wager," and "wagers are contracts, and the law recognizes that contracts occur where the final action needed to take place occurs." However, State Senator Jennifer Beck has stated that online gambling cannot be legalized with the approval of New Jersey voters, and several federal courts decisions have said an online bet occurs in both the location of the website, and the location of the gambler. To address Christie's concerns, new legislation was drafted that prohibits businesses other than Atlantic City casinos from advertising online gambling, or allowing their facilities to be used for online gambling. On February 26, 2013, a revised bill permitting Internet gambling was overwhelming approved by the

, and then signed into law by Chris Christie. The law legalizes online casino gambling for a ten-year trial period, restricts the operation of the websites to Atlantic City's eleven casinos, and imposes a 15% tax on online gambling revenue, instead of the 8% currently imposed on casinos. The act requires that the gambler be at least 21 and play from a computer in New Jersey. The gambler's location will likely be verified through a

global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS), and the bill allows interstate compacts to be signed in future in order to authorize multistate gambling. Comps will be available, but will need to be redeemed by visiting the casino.

Macquarie Capital Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...

estimates that online gambling will provide Atlantic City's casino with $260 to $400 million in additional revenue per year. The Casino Control Commission will create regulations for online gambling. It is unclear when online gambling licenses will be issued, or if there will be any legal challenges to the new law. Online casinos opened for business via a synchronized launch on November 21, 2013. At launch, game options were limited, but by 2017, twelve separate online casino brands offered many hundreds of games including a wide variety that have been brought over from the traditional casino world. In June 2017, it was reported that the

industry had surpassed $100 million in tax revenue. The combined revenues of all online casinos in New Jersey now actually exceed the revenues of the three NJ brick-and-mortar casinos with the lowest revenue figures. When the online casino portals were first launched, they were restricted to the same state, meaning players in New Jersey could only play with other players in New Jersey. However, in October 2017 the state signed an interstate compact with Delaware and Nevada (both of whom had passed similar legislation to legalize online gambling) so players across all three states could compete with each other. New Jersey legal online casinos 2021 cumulative revenue hits $1B, beating last year’s figures and thus showing substantial year-to-year growth.

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confir ...

reports: for the month of April 2022,

win reported by casinos and their partners was $136.9 million, reflecting growth of 27.0% compared to $107.7 million for the prior period. For the year-to-date period, Internet Gaming Win reported by casinos and their partners was $545.4 million, reflecting growth of 30.2% compared to $419.0 million for the prior year-to-date period.

Expansion of casino gambling outside Atlantic City

The proposed New Jersey Casino Expansion Amendment (2016) resulted from an agreement among Governor

and Democratic state legislators, but voters rejected the ballot question by a margin of 77% to 23%. State legislators were in deadlock over who would be allowed to own new casinos and tax revenue sharing. The measure did not say where the casinos would be allowed. Location and other matters such as tax rates would be determined by

enabling legislation An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to car ...

to be passed by the state legislature. A law passed by popular vote in 1976 gives Atlantic City a monopoly on casino gambling in New Jersey. An analysis by Fitch, a credit-rating agency, determined that as many as four of Atlantic City's eight casinos would be bankrupted by expanding casino gambling outside the city. Supporters of gambling in North Jersey said the measure would help Atlantic City by redirecting as much as $200 million per year in tax revenue to the city. Opponents said it was unlikely that much revenue would be generated and that it would not make up for the losses due to new competition. Even with no in-state competition allowed, four

casinos have closed in recent years, causing severe economic problems.

Casino gambling

As of 2019, New Jersey has nine

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s, all in Atlantic City. In 2011, they employed about 33 thousand, had 28.5 million visitors, made $3.4 billion in gambling revenue, and paid $278 million in taxes. They are regulated by the

and

New Jersey Lottery

The

currently offers eight lottery draw games, which are sold by retailers around the state, including the

style Pick-3 and Pick-4, the

keno Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries. Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...

-style Quick Draw, the lotto-style Jersey Cash 5, 5 Card Cash, and Pick-6 Xtra, and the multistate games

Mega Millions Mega Millions (originally known as ''The Big Game'' in 1996 and renamed, temporarily, to ''The Big Game Mega Millions'' six years later) is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game; as of January 30, 2020, it is offered in 45 states, the Di ...

and

Powerball Powerball is an American lottery game offered by 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is coordinated by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). From its inaugural drawing on April 19, 1992, unti ...

. The state also sells

scratch card A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game, instant lottery, scratchie, lot scrots, or scritchies) is a card designed for competitions, often made of ...

instate games. The games are overseen by the New Jersey Lottery Commission, and the revenue goes to prizes (59%), education (34%), retailers' commissions (6%), and administrative costs (1%).

Current games

Former games

Horse racing & off-track betting

New Jersey currently has three

racetracks A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also ...

and five

(OTB) halls, all of which are regulated by the New Jersey Racing Commission (an entity of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General). The state passed a law in 2013 permitting one horse race per year on a New Jersey beach, and Monmouth Park will be conducting a beach race in Atlantic City based on the

Palio di Siena The Palio di Siena (; known locally simply as ''Il Palio''), from Latin pallium, plural form: Palii, is a horse race that is held twice each year, on 2 July and 16 August, in Siena, Italy. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the ...

Current racetracks

Current off-track betting halls

Former racetracks

Charity, amusement, and social gambling

The state of New Jersey allows

, where non-profit organizations (e.g., churches, fraternal organizations) to run

raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are chec ...

s, casino nights, and armchair races.

Amusement parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

carnivals Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

, and boardwalks in shore communities are allowed to have amusement games involving skill or chance (e.g., spinning wheels,

skeeball Skee-Ball is an arcade game and one of the first redemption games. It is played by rolling a ball up an inclined lane and over a "ball-hop" hump (resembling a ski jump) that jumps the ball into bullseye rings. The object of the game is to collect ...

). Charity gambling and amusement games are regulated by the New Jersey Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission. New Jersey permits social gambling (e.g., workplace

football pool In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may encou ...

, a family poker game) insofar as the organizer of the game is on equal terms with the other participants, and does not take a cut of the gambling proceeds. Furthermore, it is never a criminal offense in New Jersey to be a player in a gambling operation. However, the New Jersey Alcoholic Beverage Commission prohibits bars and other holder of liquor licenses from allowing social gambling.

Illegal gambling

Each year billions of dollars of illegal gambling takes place in New Jersey. Illegal gambling operations range from employees who make money on office sports betting pools to online poker websites to multimillion-dollar enterprises run by

organized criminals Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

. Despite the availability of legal gambling in New Jersey, studies have shown that illegal gambling persists because it offers options that are not available legally, e.g. casino gambling outside Atlantic City, and because some gamblers prefer using a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

whom they know personally. State law does not punish players, but a person operating an illegal gambling enterprise, or possessing equipment or records used for illegal gambling can face up to five years in prison. However, illegal gambling arrests are rare in New Jersey, and there is presumption of non-incarceration for first-time offenders.

Minimum age

A person must be at least 21 to gamble at a casino in New Jersey. It is legal for a minor to go to a casino, insofar as they do not gamble, consume alcoholic beverage, or remain on the gambling floor. Underage gambling at a casino is a disorderly persons offense (misdemeanor), punishable by a $500–$1000 fine and a mandatory six-month

driver's license A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public ...

suspension, and plea bargaining of underage gambling charges is prohibited. The legal age for other forms of licensed gambling (e.g., lottery, horse race) is 18, but a person under 18 may take part in amusement games where the prize is an item (e.g., a stuffed animal), and not cash. There is no minimum age for social gambling.

References

{{Lists of casinos by U.S. state * + New Jersey law