OLD BRIDGE, N.J. — As a result of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling legalizing sports betting, gamblers in New Jersey may be able to legally wager on this year's NBA Finals.
Monmouth Park Racetrack is putting the finishing touches on the Garden State's first legal sports book. The Oceanport-based racetrack expects to offer sports betting within two weeks, in time for the NBA Finals, which tip off May 31.
The thought of legally taking bets on the likes of Stephen Curry and LeBron James sent pulses racing at the venerable 147-year-old racetrack Monday. Besides the NBA Finals, Monmouth could also offer sports gamblers a home in time for the Stanley Cup Final, which also begins in late May, and the remainder of the Major League Baseball season.
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The real jackpot will come, of course, when the NFL kicks off its regular season Sept. 6 with the Super Bowl champion Eagles playing the Falcons up the Jersey Turnpike in Philadelphia.
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The state of New Jersey has been drooling over the opportunity to offer sports betting for years. Hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court would eventually clear the way for sports betting, Monmouth built a sport book in advance. That advance planning is about to pay off.
Monmouth will be the first in the state to offer sports betting. As a result of its partnership with British gambling company William Hill, the racetrack plans to operate a Las Vegas-style sports book down at the famed "Jersey Shore."
The illegal sports betting industry is estimated at over $400 billion, said Dennis Drazin, CEO of Monmouth, during a press conference Monday. The opening of New Jersey's first legal sports book will be good news for the financially strapped state, he said.
Said Drazin: “Everybody’s betting anyway. So we’re trying to legalize this and protect consumers."
Dennis Drazin of Monmouth Park says, “unless somebody stops” them, they plan to be taking sports bets within 2 weeks. #SportsBetting pic.twitter.com/oyrQKt9R8i
— Brent Johnson (@johnsb01) May 14, 2018
But Monmouth won't have a monopoly on legal sports betting for long.
Now that the dam has broken, Atlantic City casino resorts such as The Borgata and Hard Rock may open their own sports betting facilities, according to NJ.com.
Ditto for Meadowlands Racetrack near MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL's Giants and Jets.
Don't expect the bookies and organized crime families that have controlled sports betting to go out of business, though.
Illegal bookies offer one big advantage to heavy gamblers: They allow them to bet on credit as long as you pay the "vigorish," or interest.
