New Jersey has appointed this Thursday as the day on which sports betting regulations is going to be discussed on a state level, as the final legislative greenlighting is expected to be given. This could result in sports betting offerings launching operation in the upcoming weeks, but eSports events remain excluded from the sports wagering sector.
One of the most discussed topic in the last several months has been the potential overruling of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 by the United States Supreme Court and this Monday brought the official decision affecting the states which are yet to legalize sports betting. Following the official ruling of SCOTUS, every state now has the chance to make a decision whether to legalize sports betting across its gambling facilities or to retain its current position.
New Jersey is one of the states that allow online gambling and reaps the benefits from this offering, qualifying the location as one of the forward-thinking ones. This Thursday has been chosen as the day on which the Senate and the Assembly hold their voting for the needed framework of the new sector.
State Bans Wagering on Domestic Level eSports Events
As it has been revealed, however, competitive video gaming and eSports would not be considered part of the legalized sports betting field. The proposed draft of the law which is going to be discussed this Thursday states that for the time being the sports which remain excluded from the legal sports wagering sector are all high school sports events, electronic sports, and competitive video games.
There is a condition to this, of course, which claims that sports events on an international level in which players under the age of 18 are a small part of the participants are still going to be able to see bets being placed. This exclusion of eSports caused an immediate reaction from people well-acquainted with the competitive video gaming field, among which Bryce Blum, ESG Law Founding Partner. Mr. Blum tweeted that a deeper understanding of the field is needed since eSports could not be compared to high school sports.
NJ's sports betting law excludes ALL esports events unless they are (1) international and (2) more than 50% of players are over 18.
The law treats esports the same as high school sports, which is actually insane. Obvious problem w/ ppl regulating something they don't understand. pic.twitter.com/WbzcULETph
— Bryce Blum (@esportslaw) June 6, 2018
Development on the topic is expected in the forthcoming weeks. In the meantime, other issues should be addressed at the said lawmakers’ meeting, such as the taxes applied to the field. Lawmakers of the state have expressed their disagreement with the proposed by major sports organizations integrity fee. The NBA, MLB, and PGA recently claimed that if sports betting is legalized on a state level, they would want to receive some 0.25 percent of every wager placed on their games as a so-called integrity fee.
Since the authorities refuse to feature such fee in the framework of New Jersey’s future sports wagering field, they have not included this question in the scheduled vote on the 7th. As previously discussed, the proposed tax rates for the sector are set in a way which is aiming not to cripple the operation of businesses. There would be an 8.5-percent tax applied to businesses operating at brick-and-mortar facilities, whereas those who operate online would have to pay a 13-percent tax to the state.
