New Jersey is wasting no time in getting into the sports gambling game.
In less than two weeks, Monmouth Park will open a sports book and begin taking bets, the racetrack and casino has confirmed. The target date is Memorial Day, Monday, May 28. Dennis Drazin, president and CEO of the company that operates Monmouth Park, says his understanding is that once the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports gambling outside Nevada, there’s nothing stopping Monmouth Park from taking bets immediately, even if New Jersey’s legislature hasn’t passed any state laws regulating gambling.
``We would defer to the legislature if they have any different views, but I know the legislature is going to move swiftly on this,’’ Drazin told the Asbury Park Press.
Although the NBA playoffs will likely see the bulk of the early gambling action, NFL bets will immediately do big business: Nevada casinos are already taking bets on Week One games and season win totals, and New Jersey casinos will surely do the same.
Other states aren’t expected to move quite as quickly as New Jersey, but several states could have casinos legally taking bets on NFL games by the time the season starts.