If you’re a U.S. resident who lives outside of Nevada and enjoys legal sports betting in your state, you should know that this is only the case because of an extended effort by New Jersey.

The Garden State approved a state law in 2011 that directly challenged not only federal law, but also state lawmakers and their attorneys. What became a six-year legal battle ultimately culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court erasing that federal law in 2018.

Ever since, New Jersey regulators have served as guides to lawmakers and regulators in other states who subsequently legalized gambling in their state, which is surpassed only by New York in annual betting handle.

New Jersey State Betting Overview

All major U.S. sportsbooks are operating in New Jersey, which is considered an attractive destination for such operators. The sports betting industry has operated in New Jersey since mid-2018 with very little controversy, in spite of having only Nevada as a predecessor in regulating such gambling.

Best Online Sportsbooks in New Jersey – FanDuel Wins the Crowds

In the first 8 months of 2025, FanDuel ($296.7 million) and DraftKings ($178.9 million) combined for the lion’s share of the state’s $697.1 million in sportsbook revenue. BetMGM ($40.1 million) and Bet365 ($26.5 million) placed third and fourth, respectively.

FanDuel’s sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack is by far the most popular retail sportsbook, and the numbers don’t lie. It took in $15.3 million in brick-and-mortar revenue in that span, far ahead of runner-up Harrah’s at $1.3 million.

Best Sports Betting Promos in NJ – Top Choices

There are a lot of sports betting promos to choose from depending on the site you decide to play one. Of my favorites, FanDuel’s mobile sportsbook is offering new customers a chance to win $300 in free bets if their initial $5 wager wins.

However, you could always sign up to multiple sites to take advantage of all the different offers and test them out. If you’re a casual player, you’ll be content with range you find. Just make sure you check the point spreads on each to see if you can find a better price and/or better odds. Several sites sometimes offer “risk-free bets” and “odds boosts,” though usually only for up to $5 or $10.

Serious gamblers would be wise to sign up for the other dozen or so sportsbooks as well, spending time to find the optimal betting scenario for each game.

Full List of Online & Retail Sportsbooks in New Jersey

There are currently 14 online sports betting apps in New Jersey, as well as a 11 retail sportsbooks.

Online Sportsbooks and Official Launch Dates

1. DraftKings –  Aug. 1, 2018
2. MGM – Aug. 22, 2018
3. Borgata – Aug. 22, 2018
4. FanDuel – Sept. 1, 2018
5. Caesars – Sept. 6, 2018
6. Bet365 – Aug. 26, 2019
7. BetParx – March 16, 2022
8. BetRivers – Aug. 18, 2022
9. SportTrade – Sept. 15, 2022
10. Hard Rock – Aug. 17, 2023
11. ESPN Bet – Sept. 14, 2023
12. PrimeSports – April 3, 2024
13. Fanatics – May 8, 2024
14. BallyBet – Nov. 12, 2024

Retail Sportsbooks and Official Launch Dates

1. Monmouth Park – June 14, 2018
2. Meadowlands Racetrack – July 14, 2018
3. Caesars – July 30, 2018
4. Harrah’s – Aug. 1, 2018
5. Resorts – Aug. 15, 2018
6. Ocean – Sept. 6, 2018
7. Tropicana – Oct. 25, 2018
8. Hard Rock – Jan. 29, 2019
9. Borgata – June 29, 2019
10. Bally’s – Aug. 14, 2023
11. Golden Nugget – Jan. 29, 2025 (relaunch after 5-year hiatus)

What You Can Legally Bet On in New Jersey

New Jersey sportsbook operators are allowed to offer wagers on all major sports, including betting on dozens of lesser-known sports like badminton, billiards, and darts.

There are unique betting options available too, such as who will win the major Academy Awards acting honors or even the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island, NY.

Official Sports Teams to Bet On

The New Jersey Devils NFL teams and the New York Jets and New York Giants NFL teams are the pro sports franchises located in New Jersey.

As New Jersey is situated between New York and Philadelphia, it’s no surprise that sports fans also are rooting for other teams like the Philadelphia Eagles.

The New York Yankees and New York Mets MLB teams, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks NBA teams, and the New York Rangers NHL team are all located in New York City.

St. John’s University, located in the same city, is the only major men’s basketball team in the New York City and northern New Jersey area. Villanova is a top team near Philadelphia.

Quirks about Betting in the Garden State

While there are 14 mobile sportsbooks in New Jersey, the state allows for up to 42 – three “skins” for each of the state’s 12 Atlantic City casinos and its two horse racing tracks.

Biggest Critique on New Jersey’s Betting Scene: No College Sports Betting

The main criticism from the U.S gaming industry regarding New Jersey’s regulations is its prohibition on wagers on in-state college sports betting events and on any such games taking place in the state, such as an annual college basketball tournament that takes place in Atlantic City.

The lack of college betting is not a major revenue loser for New Jersey, because Rutgers – which does not have a rich history of football success – is the only Division I college football team.

There are eight D-I men’s basketball programs, but none of them qualified for the “March Madness” in 2025 and none historically are serious contenders for a national championship.

New Jersey’s Betting Scene vs Neighboring States: Smaller Population, But An Impressive Handle

Pennsylvania’s 11 sportsbooks and New York’s nine such books compare almost evenly to New Jersey’s 14 sportsbooks. The better climate for New Jersey sportsbooks allows them to offer better odds and better promotions than exist in those neighboring states.

New Jersey vs New York and Pennsylvania – Handle & Tax Rates

New Jersey has had $66 million in betting handle through August 2025, second in the country only to neighboring state New York ($74.9 million). Pennsylvania, its other major neighbor, ranks fifth at $40.2 million.

New Jersey’s outsized handle relative to its population stems in part from its low tax rate – 13% for mobile wagers, though rising to 19.75% as of June 2025. That’s still far lower than New York’s 51% and Pennsylvania’s rate of 36%.

In 2025, New Jersey sportsbooks paid out $101 million in tax revenue in the first eight months of 2025.

Legalization of Sports Betting in New Jersey, Then and Now

The U.S. Supreme Court realistically tipped its hand almost a year before its final verdict by accepting the case, even after the U.S. Solicitor General’s office’s advice was that it was not necessary to do so.

That meant while the Court’s ruling was groundbreaking for the expansion of the U.S. gambling industry, for anyone in the know, the rise of online gambling in New Jersey wasn’t surprising at all.

2018-2019

• Day 1 June 14, 2018: Governor Phil Murphy made the first wager, which took place at the Monmouth Park racetrack. He bet $20 on Germany to win the World Cup soccer event but lost the bet. The state took in $1.2 billion in handle in the second half of 2018, and that figure grew to $12.8 billion in 2024 as handle has grown each year.
• June-August 2018: The betting handle for June/July/August 2018 was a relatively modest $152.7 million, as most of the brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and mobile betting sites did not launch immediately upon authorization in mid-June 2018.
• December 2019: Online sports betting in New Jersey maintained a consistent betting handle of at least $250 million for every month throughout 2019, ending the year with $500 million in handle during November and December.

2021-2023

• September 2021: New Jersey sports betting surpasses $1 billion in betting handle, breaking its own record.
• 2022: New Jersey’s restrictions on in-state college team betting are scrutinized.
• 2023: PlayUp fails to comply with state regulations, so it has its license revoked.

2024-2025

• January 2024: Sports betting in the state reaches a new record, bringing in $1.71 billion.
• November 2024: A legislative bill is introduced that would ban NCAA player prop bets.
• June 2025: The state’s sports betting tax rate is increased from 13 to 19.75%.

Reflecting on the Rise of Sports Betting in New Jersey: A Quick and Successful Launch

State regulators moved quickly – just 30 days – to launch sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That gave them a head start against larger neighboring states New York and Pennsylvania, allowing the state for a time to collect extra tax revenue from residents of those states who live near the New Jersey border.

In the first full year of legal wagering in New Jersey, half of the $299.3 million in sportsbook revenue came via the Meadowlands Racetrack’s sportsbook and its mobile sports betting partners, with the vast majority of that revenue coming from online wagers with FanDuel as well as FanDuel’s sportsbook located at the track.

As of 2025, almost a dozen mobile sportsbooks have come and gone in New Jersey, and it’s possible that the current total of 14 such books will dwindle slightly further.

Total Revenue & Handle – An Industry Worth Billions of Dollars

New Jersey gamblers routinely wager at least $1 billion in March (college basketball) and in football season beginning in September. In 2021, the state reached up to $10 billion annual handle.

Unbeatable Sports Betting Sites in NJ

Official Sports Betting Partnerships in the Garden State

Currently, there are many official partnerships between sports team and sportsbooks. These include:

• New York Yankees/BallyBet
• New York Jets/BetMGM
• New Jersey Devils/Betway

There are also official sportbook to sportsbook partnerships in place, including:

• Bally’s x SportTrade and Fanatics
• Borgata x BetMGM
• Caesars x BetParx
• Hard Rock x Bet365
• The Meadowlands Racetrack x FanDuel
• Monmouth Park x BetRivers
• Ocean x PrimeSports
• DraftKings x Resorts
• ESPN Bet x Resorts

Licensing & Oversight – Meet the DGE

All sports gambling online in New Jersey takes place under the watch of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).

The DGE routinely fines operators for violation. It publishes a monthly list of fines of various gambling operators in the state, which often range a few thousand dollars.

Even so, the DGE is nationally recognized as a regulatory body that is willing to listen to sportsbooks that seek new ways to offer gambling. The allowance of wagers on the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog-Eating Contest are good examples.

Responsible Gaming: Safety Protocols and Tools to Protect Bettors

There is a 24-hour helpline in New Jersey called 1-800-GAMBLER, which is free and confidential. The DGE offers a Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program too: https://www.njportal.com/dge/selfexclusion.

In September 2025, state regulators proposed rules to have operators automatically review accounts that trip certain thresholds, such as deposits over $10,000 in a single day, or $100,000 in a span of three months.

Sportsbooks also would need to formally appoint a “responsible gaming lead employee” who reviews details such as if a gambler visited the state’s self-exclusion page three times in 30 days without then signing up.

New Jersey Sports Betting Key Takeaways

Overall, New Jersey enjoys a very favorable reputation nationally for its oversight and management of state sportsbooks.

The Good – Overall, New Jersey Is A Dream for Online Gamblers

On the plus side, the state’s low tax rate, while providing significantly less annual revenue for the budget, benefits gamblers who enjoy better odds and better promotions and incentives than their counterparts in neighboring states. New Jersey also has a more eager gambling culture than in most states, helping offset the lower tax rate in terms of total tax revenue.

The Bad – Taxes Will Change, But College Betting and Handle Won’t

On the flip side, the rise in the tax rate in 2025 likely will lead to less favorable odds and to fewer promotions. The ban on wagers on in-state college sporting events is liable to continue too, given that neither Rutgers football nor any basketball programs seem headed for national prominence.

Finally, with more than seven years of legal wagering under the state’s belt, the total annual handle seems to be leveling off. Residents who are inclined to gamble, it seems, already do.

Final Impressions on Sports Betting in New Jersey – A State That Took a Gamble, and It Paid Off

New Jersey elected officials back in 2011 decided to take on a 1992 federal law that clearly gave Nevada a virtual monopoly on legal sports betting in the U.S.

As with online casino gaming, which launched in 2013, the decision was based on grave fears that the opening of casinos in Pennsylvania and New York – each in 2006 – ultimately would doom the Atlantic City casino industry and cause the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and cripple the South Jersey economy.

The state’s horse racing industry also was at risk, because prior to 2006, the casinos gave the racetracks more than $10 million annually for racing purse subsidies in exchange for a promise by the tracks that they wouldn’t seek to install video lottery terminals – basically, first cousins of slot machines – at their sites.

The result was a victory that has given a major boost to Atlantic City casino bottom lines, with the state’s racetracks benefiting more modestly from its sportsbook partnerships.

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FAQ: New Jersey Sports Betting

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