New Jersey Online Casino Gaming at Risk Due to Law Ending in November

The online gambling industry in New Jersey is big business for the Garden State. Millions of dollars are brought in monthly from sports betting, casino gaming, and online poker. The state has come to rely on the industry and if it were to go away, it would be damaging for NJ casinos and the overall economy.

Legislation to legalize the industry was passed into law in 2013. The limit for the industry was ten years, with November 2023 being the end date set by lawmakers a decade ago. Now, the huge money maker for NJ is at risk. Will lawmakers be able to come up with a solution before the deadline?

In September of 2022, Senate Bill 3075 was introduced, and lawmakers were reminded as to how additional legislation is needed to ensure that the industry remains intact. It would seem that once the legislation was introduced, Senate members would quickly move forward with the measure, but that was not the case.

The measure has remained on the table and lawmakers are only just now taking action. The bill will extend the interactive slot machines and table game options in the state for an additional ten-year time frame is passed into law.

The statute was not considered at the time as lawmakers were working on other, more pressing bills. However, now that the November deadline is looming, action must be taken. The measure was able to move through the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee earlier this week, after passing within a previous committee.

The bill now moves on to the full Senate floor for a vote. It would be surprising to see the measure fail, and it is expected to move forward quickly.

When the original legislation was passed, it was not expected that the industry would reach the heights it has in ten years. In the beginning, revenues within the iGaming sector were quite small when compared to land-based venues. However, as the years went by, more iGaming sites were added and the revenues continued to build.  

In 2015, the state saw just over $148 million in earnings. By the next year, the amount was up to just under $200 million gross gaming revenues. The very next year, the amount was even more, with over $245 million.  

By 2019, the industry was earning over $480 million and the years that followed were just as lucrative. 2020 brought in a huge boost, with $970 million in earnings. The amount was boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Players were unable to access games in land-based form, so those who would normally play in person were logging online.

It seems the pandemic was a trigger for the industry and the one-billion-dollar mark was reached by 2021. That year, the industry pulled in over $1.3 billion in iGaming earnings. In 2022, the industry earned just over $1.6 billion.

Totals for 2023 are solid, though some months are seeing a downward trend in earnings. Overall, the industry is booming and is one that the state does not want to lose. Lawmakers still have time to ensure the iGaming market stays afloat and we expect to see the current legislation hit the governor’s desk as quickly as possible.

If for some reason the bill does not pass, it would be catastrophic for land-based casino operators, online providers, players, and the economy as a whole. We don’t expect that to happen and hope that the measure will add the ten years or perhaps even longer for legalized iGaming.