Lawmakers in the Garden State have voted to advance a bill prohibiting state universities from partnering with sports betting operators with only a few notable exceptions.
Book Ban
Earlier this week, the Assembly Higher Education Committee voted unanimously to advance A4113, a bill prohibiting the state’s higher education institutions from partnering with New Jersey’s sportsbooks. The bill is expected to gain support in the state legislature, which will ultimately await the governor’s signature.
However, the bill does not pertain to private universities like Seton Hall or Princeton but would impact state-funded institutions like Rutgers or the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Moreover, certain exceptions would be allowed if the purpose is intended for “academic purposes” or “experiential learning opportunities” that would foster academic growth and awareness, as long as it does not involve direct marketing or advertising to students.
“Allowing this balance in terms of ensuring that our students remain as safe as possible but at the same time recognizing that this could be a valuable career for them is the proper balance,” said Jennifer Maloney, executive director of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities, in support of the bill.
New Terms, Same Tricks
Daniel Sartori of Prudential Financial spoke at a conference at Princeton comprised of mental health professionals, nonprofit leaders, financial counselors and addiction prevention advocates last week, stating, “The [sportsbook] advertisers are bringing people in, and then they know how to prey on people who haven’t done this [gambling] before.”
Sartori went on to say that the advertising verbiage can also be misleading, even though the term “risk-free” bet has been banned in virtually every market. Online sportsbooks have replaced that with a “no sweat” bet, which lends the same connotation that the wager is without financial consequences.
“It didn’t really solve any problems because it’s literally the exact same thing just said differently,” Sartori said. “And there’s just no enforcement of that code. There’s nobody that can really police the sportsbooks, so that’s where I think the big problem comes in,” he said.
Cause & Effect
It was no surprise that the legislation has another ally in the form of the state’s Council on Compulsive Gambling, which released a statement saying, “The Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, Inc. strongly discourages such partnerships since the majority of university students are below the legal age of gambling, and research has consistently shown that those under 21 who participate in or are exposed to gambling are far more likely to develop gambling problems later in life.”
According to reports, the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey has reported a 277% increase in calls to its 1-800-GAMBLER support line since online sports betting was launched in 2018. Felicia Grondin, the executive director of the New Jersey Council, believes the increase in calls is attributed to the convenience of mobile betting.
“A lot of that has to do with the easy accessibility for people to place wagers via their phone,” Grondin said. “People don’t really have the time to collect their thoughts to say, ‘Do I really need to place this wager?’ They get involved in the game. There’s a dopamine rush; they’re excited, and before you know it, they’re tens of thousands of dollars in debt.”
