New Jersey stands as a beacon of leniency and innovation in the ever-evolving landscape of gambling laws and regulations. From the historic passage of the casino bill in 1977 to the legalization of online gambling and sports betting, the state's approach has continually adapted to changing times and technologies.
There is one thing to note when it comes to gambling. Not every country permits gambling due to the people's irresponsibility and to curb money laundering. Regardless of this, New Jersey is very lenient in its gambling rules. With gambling in New Jersey made extremely legal, there arises the need to evaluate the existing Gambling regulations. These regulations cover all forms of available gambling games in New Jersey.
Existing new jersey gambling regulations
In 1977, a bill was passed by the New Jersey State Casino Control Commission. It covered only land casino games and promoted a regulated casino industry. This Commission regulates the licensing of casinos. However, the 1977 bill was later amended in 2011.
With the amendment of 2011, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement emerged. The Division deals with the licensing of casinos in line with the set rules and keeps the casinos in check.
It was finally in February 2013 that online gambling New Jersey became legal, making it the third state in the United States to legalize online gambling. In addition, the legislative bill on gambling was signed by Governor Chris Christie to expand the horizon of legal gambling in the state.
In 2017, Daily Fantasy Sports was also legalized. The following year, New Jersey's Assembly Bill 4111 legalized Sports Betting.
However, the New Jersey gambling age varies depending on the game involved. For instance, no one under 21 can play online casino games, poker, or sports betting. At age 18, one can only wager on Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and Horse Races. However, Social gambling is not age restricted as long as cash prizes are not involved.
Future gambling regulation changes
Knowing the fact that change is constant in every aspect of life, gambling is not an exception. So the question is, " What does the future of New Jersey hold for gambling?".
Well, facts have it that there are plans for improvements in the gambling sector of New Jersey. The state legislators (as of September 2022) are hoping to extend gambling legislation to cover more jersey city casinos and games and provide for more publicized advertisements.
This legislation is slated to have followed due process latest 2033. This is a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that nearly crippled their economy.
When you feel like having a feel of Las Vegas in New Jersey, it's pretty simple - visit Atlantic City. We know that the whole map of Atlantic City casinos may confuse a newbie who wants to have fun.
Atlantic City houses the best casinos in New Jersey. You can enjoy casinos online, on land, or off the ground into international waters, where there is no limit to the types of games you can play in New Jersey. We will give you an overview of online, land, and Offland casinos in New Jersey.
But before that, you should know that the legal gambling age is 18 or 21, depending on the kind of games you want to play. Other sections of this article will give more details about the legal gambling age.
Besides the conventional brick-and-mortar casinos common in every state, including New Jersey, the digital development of the world has ushered in an era of online casinos. These online casinos are the most convenient to use in terms of accessibility, comfortability, and the amazing bonuses you can not benefit from in a land-based casino.
On the other side of the fun is the offland casino. Please do not confuse it with NJonline casinos. Offland casinos involve being on a ship and leaving for international waters to enjoy both luxury and pleasure. Offland Casinos are, however, for everyone. It is for the high-class spenders.
We've compiled a list of the most trusted land-based casinos if you're searching for "New Jersey casinos near me":
Sports Betting is a gambling game that involves playing your bets on the result of a sporting event. It usually involves predicting who will win, the scores, and other game specifics. It covers major sports like football, basketball, cricket, etc.
Before 2018, Sports Betting was deemed illegal. However, betting was centered on Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway, and Monmouth Park race tracks which were home to horse races. Horse race gambling was very popular then, as gamblers could play online using the 4NJBet platform.
In 2018, sports betting was legalized weeks after the Supreme Court disallowed a federal ban on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). This regulation set down rules for gambling Atlantic City-based SportBook Makers.
Currently, there are nine functional land-based sportsbook makers within New Jersey. Additionally, 12 mobile sports betting platforms are available for New Jersey Residents in the digital age.
Daily Fantasy Sports - also known as DFS - is legal for ages 18 and above. New Jersey Consumer Affairs Division is responsible for issuing licenses to DFS operators. With the operators paying annual gross revenue-based fees, New Jersey residents have unrestricted access to play NJ paid DFS platforms.
Daily Fantasy Sports combines both gambling and sports making it one of the most-played gambling games in New Jersey. In 2017, New Jersey became the 17th US state to incorporate DFS into their gambling system. However, New Jersey remains the first state to include college sports games in DFS.
DFS is mainly for those interested in a fictional self-created sports world rather than the real deal. Here is a list of some DFS games available in New Jersey
Online Daily Fantasy NFL
Online Daily Fantasy NBA
Online Daily Fantasy MLB
Online Daily Fantasy NHL
College Fantasy Sport
These Daily Fantasy games are played by setting up a team of your choice with the available virtual players that play these games in real life. Some virtual players are purchased with real cash.
Points are earned by the real-life performance of the players you have on your team. The real-life goals, assists, and blocked shots are accumulated at points. Then, the highest-ranking team wins the game.
However, the DFS legal gambling age in NJ is 18 years.
Bingo -often regarded as lotto- is a popular choice gambling game because it only deals with selecting numbers with a grid. The casino dealers call out the numbers, and once an entire row is called out - that is a win! Its easy-to-play nature makes it popular in many countries, including New Jersey.
New Jersey Gambling sites offer a $2 Bingo Fast Play feature. New Jersey Bingo has an overall odds of 1 in 3.8. Not only that, the prize of Bingo Fast Play is replenished after each ticket purchase. Therefore, there is a very high chance of winning.
There is also a chance of winning the entire jackpot. NJ Bingo has five winning patterns:
The Single Line
The "Z"
The "X"
The Four Corners
And Finally, "ALL."
New Jersey Bingo is easy to win, and here is how to win :
After purchasing a Bingo Card, march the call numbers to the numbers on your card
Create a winning pattern
Claim the prize of the winning pattern
Voila! That's all you need to win big playing bingo in New Jersey casinos.
If you are just new to gambling, poker is a nice gambling game suggestion to try your luck. Poker is a card game that is played with a standard deck card. It simply involves gaining card combinations. The higher the card's value, the bigger the chances of wisdom.
For many poker players, the good news is that poker is legal in New Jersey and available in many New Jersey online gambling sites. Fun fact, NJ residents have unrestricted access to live and online poker rooms as long as they have attained gambling age in Atlantic City.
Poker was officially introduced into the New Jersey gambling world in 2013, making New Jersey the third state to make gambling in poker legal. There are presently seven online poker rooms active in NJ. However, there are four distinct poker networks in New Jersey that most casino sites jointly use:
All-American Poker Network
Pala Poker
Partypoker Network
Pokerstars
All-American Poker Network is the widest poker network in terms of range and gaming options. In addition, this network is interconnected with Nevada and Delaware, making it possible to have an inter-state poker tournament.
The smallest poker network, however, is Pala Poker, which only has a limited working time frame - nights. Coupled with its time-selective operating hours, it does not share traffic with other poker networks.
Poker enthusiasts enjoy the privilege of playing poker variants in New Jersey virtual poker rooms:
Stud Poker
No-Limit Texas Hold'em
Pot-Limit Omaha
Fast-Fold
Playing Lotteries in New Jersey is one of the popular things to do while gambling in Atlantic City. New Jersey has different lottery draws, which include
The single line
Pick 3 Evening
Pick 4 Midday
Pick 4 evening
Jersey Cash 5
Pick 6
5 Card Cash
Cash4Life
Mega millions
Powerball
The chance of hitting the jackpot in New Jersey is not one you would love to miss.
New Jersey lottery games have overall odds of 1 in 1,000 in Pick 3 games and 1 in 13,983,316 when you select the total numbers in a Powerball draw.
Aside from the list mentioned above, a recent feature to the Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 6 games is available in New Jersey - "Fireball." All lottery winning numbers are found on the New Jersey Home page
Usually, Lotteries in New Jersey may take 2-3 weeks to get your winnings in check. However, only brick-and-mortar casino retailers and self-service machines are authorized to offer sales of lotteries. This infers that the lottery gambling age in New Jersey is 21.
Gambling has been existing for more than centuries in New Jersey. Before it was banned in 1844, lotteries were common in New Jersey. It has financed military wars to enhance its weapons purchasing power. It also financed the building of the now Rutgers University and Princeton University.
Existing since the 1830s, the Freehold Raceway was the first horse race track in the United States. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society also used Freehold Raceway for ceremonial events from 1854. However, in 1894, New Jersey legislators brought up a bill banning pool betting. It was officially in 1897 that a referendum was held to amend the constitution of New Jersey to ban all forms of commercial gambling.
Between 1894 to 1939, it was quite unclear whether gambling was truly banned as churches and other organizations held public bingos, and even horse race Betting continued. In 1939, Horse Race Betting was legalized, which began a new era of gambling history in New Jersey. 1953 saw the referendum of the people re-legalizing churches and other non-profit associations to conduct bingos and raffle draws.
In 1970, New Jersey Lottery was created, and by 1975, the first New Jersey Lottery game was launched - "Pick-It." As of 1974, Atlantic City was the only city legalized to conduct gambling games.
In 2006, there was a closedown of state government activities. This was due to the standoff between the then Governor and the legislators of New Jersey. As a result, Atlantic City suffered a backlash and has not fully recovered as of 2021.
It was in 2012 that a bill was passed allowing sports betting to be legal in New Jersey except for college sports. However, there were appeals and suits countered amongst sports associations to counter the bill. As a result, the Court faced many challenges in settling the dispute between the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and the 2012 bill.
It was until 2018 that the Supreme Court settled the constitutional issues and declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) 1992 unconstitutional. Following the decisions of New Jersey's Supreme Court, Governor Phil Murphy assented to Assembly Bill 4111, making Sports betting legal. In August 2018, the premier online sports bet took place.
As it relates to online gambling, the struggle for its enforcement was tough as New Jersey legislators first passed it in 2011. However, it was vetoed by Governor Chris Christe based on his concern about the risk of nightclubs and cafes infiltrating the legislative loophole.
Governor Chris Christe signed a revised bill in 2013, recognizing the legal age to gamble in Atlantic City as 21. The bill also increased the online gambling tax to 15% for participating casinos. In addition, certain technologies were incorporated to secure compliance with the bill - like GPS tracking to confirm the location and device used to gamble.
Gradually, the Online Casino business began to open, and by 2017 about 12 casinos were focusing on online gambling. However, since 1976, Atlantic City has held the casino gambling monopoly of New Jersey. This decision was maintained to avoid the bankruptcy of casinos and prevent high competition.
When it comes to responsible gaming, it does not just involve the legal gambling age New Jersey. Instead, it cuts across the ability of the legally matured residents of New Jersey to gamble with caution and to make logical gambling decisions.
Gaming Responsibly involves strategically having a gambling spending limit and considering the risk of loss. It is about setting aside pleasure from dependence on gambling proceeds.
Without restraint on one's self, it is easy to get carried away by the pleasures of gambling. Irresponsible gambling may lead to the loss of savings, employment, home, and many other benefits.
There are certain things to note to know whether one gambles responsibly or not:
Borrowing from friends and family to gamble
Selling of cars and possession to play gambling games
Becoming restless when one does not gamble
Missing school or work to have fun at a casino
Hiding gambling losses from others
Of course, there are many other symptoms of a person with gambling issues, but here are some personal tips to keep gambling activities in check as a New Jersey citizen:
Set strict limits on gambling expenditure.
Call it quits after winning a bet - you do not have to be greedy.
Take a break often from gambling. Habits die hard.
Speak with trusted ones when you feel you have problems gambling
Of course, there are many other symptoms of a person with gambling issues, but here are some personal tips to keep gambling activities in check as a New Jersey citizen:
Tips are given about the possible losses involved in gambling.
Their staff is trained to recognize players with gambling addiction and prevent them from participating.
Rules on how old to gamble in NJ are followed accordingly, preventing the underaged from gambling.
The New Jersey government cares for its gambling citizens and residents. Therefore, it has provided a way to permanently stop oneself from gambling with a "Self Exclusion Form." In addition, Governmental and Non-governmental Organizations have been established to help one with gambling addiction.
With Atlantic City as its heart of gambling games and top-class casinos like Showboat Casino and many others, New Jersey has remained famous for its gambling opportunities. Not only is it open to its residents, but other tourists can also enjoy the pleasure of Atlantic City.
However, regardless of how lenient its gambling laws are, New Jersey remains strict with defaulting residents, as there are penalties of imprisonment or fines for violating gambling laws.
Are New Jersey online gambling sites available on mobile devices?
Yes. For easy accessibility, you can play New Jersey gambling sites on all mobile devices.
How are NJ online gambling sites regulated?
NJ online casino sites are regulated by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, and they obtain their casino licenses from New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
Who can legally participate in NJ online gambling sites?
Anyone who has attained the Atlantic City gambling age - residents or tourists can gamble online on NJ gambling sites as long as they are within the state.
What distinguishes New Jersey gambling sites from offshore gambling sites?
Other states license offshore gambling sites. As a result, it is easy for offshore casino sites to fake their license. On the other hand, New Jersey gambling sites are regulated strictly by New Jersey rules, so the risk of being a fraud victim is minimal.
