Does all this discussion of sports wagering have you curious to try it yourself? Here’s a quick guide to betting on sports in New Jersey. There are now eight physical sports books in New Jersey and seven online books. You must be physically located in New Jersey to wager at any of the online books. However, you do not need to be a resident of New Jersey. The physical sports books are located primarily in Atlantic City. Two racetracks also offer sports wagering.
Online Betting is Easy in New Jersey
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this post for anyone looking to wager in New Jersey: Bring your smartphone. Betting online in New Jersey is very convenient and very easy compared to Nevada. While Nevada law requires you to sign up in person at the sports book, New Jersey allows online registration. Nevada also requires visits to the sports book to deposit or withdraw; New Jersey allows all banking to be done with the app. New Jersey books also have betting via websites.
For those of you who play the credit card game, you may even find that credit card deposits to New Jersey books go through as purchases. The state reports that the credit card decline rate is still north of 50% but I can assure you it does work with some cards. You’ll have better results with Mastercard than Visa. With banking so simple, you can deposit, wager, watch, and withdraw on a day trip to New Jersey.
The Lay of the Land
With the advice to bet online out of the way, we will focus on the physical sports books for the rest of this post. There are two options for getting a sports book experience without going all the way to Atlantic City: Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park. Both locations are hoping sports wagering can pump up their revenues and keep horse racing a viable business. Meanwhile, in Atlantic City, casinos hope that sports wagering brings people back that have left to gamble in neighboring states. It’ll be a while before we can discern how much positive impact sports wagering has on the venues.
One thing you shouldn’t expect when betting sports in New Jersey, at least not yet, are drink tickets. So far, none of the sports books regularly dispense complimentary drink tickets in exchange for wagers. Some passed out promotional food and drink tickets on the first weekend of the NFL season. However, there is no established drink-comp policy yet. Some blame it on food and beverage having different ownership from the sports books. Others say it’s something that will be added in time if the market demands.
Racetrack Options – The New York Sports Book
The sports book closest to New York City is Meadowlands Racetrack near MetLife Stadium not far from the NJ Turnpike or Lincoln Tunnel. Up till now, this has far and away been the most profitable sports book in New Jersey based on revenue. Since the book is literally surrounded by the parking lot of MetLife Stadium, NFL game days when either the Giants or Jets are at home can be tricky. On those days, you have to take a train or bus to the stadium complex and then take a shuttle to the sports book.
Once inside, you’ll find multiple lounges with a big selection of food and beverages. The space doesn’t lend itself to a design emulating the cavernous sports books you may be used to in Las Vegas. In fact, it’s decidedly vertical. You’ll be looking upward for everything from the odds boards to the action on the screens. The book is run by FanDuel which is owned by Betfair/Paddy Power. When sports betting launched in New Jersey in June, this book definitely stumbled coming out of the gate. It had some unfortunate issues that appear to be in the past now. True to its Paddy Power roots, this book is the most likely place to find an interesting promo. These promos typically have a $100 limit, but are almost always decidedly +EV.
A Bit Out of the Way
To get to the next racetrack location, you’ll need to travel south on the NJ Turnpike to exit 11 where you can transition onto the Garden State Parkway. Monmouth Park is located along the coast about 80 miles north of Atlantic City. Honestly, if you’re taking a day trip to New Jersey to wager, this is probably not your destination. Geographically, it’s the most isolated of the sports wagering options in the state. However, Monmouth has put forth a decent effort. You can place wagers at the grandstand betting windows, half of which were converted from horse racing to sports betting. You can also wager in the William Hill Sports Lounge, which has a low-key sports bar vibe. A larger sports book space is currently under construction. Once completed it’ll offer the full Vegas-like experience. In the meantime, you’ll find a fully operational William Hill Sports Book here. Additionally, food and drink prices are reasonable.
Casino Options – Best of Class…
For all its well-documented woes, Atlantic City is still the 3rd largest gambling jurisdiction in the U.S. in terms of revenue. With seven different companies operating nine different casinos vying for market share, getting the sports wagering demographic could be a huge battle. However, for now, the fight isn’t close. By far, the nicest space in Atlantic City is located at the Ocean Casino.
The sports book, managed by William Hill, is an impressive setup even judged by Las Vegas standards. A curved wall of screens envelop 270 degrees of the space. There’s a vast counter of tellers, easy-to-read odds boards, and ample seating. The space is uniquely located in the center of the massive casino, enabling it to generate pass-through traffic. Waitresses are available to take orders during games.
There’s also a large bar, which, while it doesn’t comp drinks based on spots wagers, does comp drinks for bartop video poker play and the games have decent paytables to boot. A couple kiosks exist for self-service betting. However, since this is clearly the nicest space in town, be prepared for crowds on game days. The line to place a bet during Week 1 of the NFL wrapped around the entire casino. If you don’t get your bet down in time for kickoff, don’t worry they have in-play betting as well.
A hidden gem is an upstairs non-smoking space which offers decent views of the screens. The staircase to access the oft-ignored second level of this casino is located outside the sports book, which is why this area remains largely undiscovered. If you’re a high roller, there are three VIP suites overlooking the busy sports book space. If you’re curious, on opening weekend of the NFL season the occupants of the VIP suites each logged roughly $500K in betting action.
…Worst of Class
Since Ocean is located on the northern end of the boardwalk, let’s get some fresh salt air and head south down the boardwalk to the next sports book. This brings us to Resorts Casino. The first casino in Atlantic City, Resorts is making some bold moves in the New Jersey sports betting space. It’s partnered with DraftKings for an online sports book that has been wildly successful, taking in a million separate wagers in its first month of operation. A partnership with BetStars — the sports betting arm of the famous PokerStars online poker site — is also in place. However, for the physical sports book they’ve chosen to create their own product with a back-end powered by the European company SBTech and the result is absolutely dreadful.
Resorts is using a space that was formerly its Internet gaming lounge, where you could play at its Internet casino on tablets. The entirety of the space is roughly 500 square feet! There’s one large television screen which is entirely too large for the space. There are also three smaller screens which serve as the odds board. The screens cycle through the lines so so quickly that you’d need to be a speed reader to have any clue what’s being offered.
If you want to grab some printed sheets to study the games in depth, good luck. The sheets are just screen captures printed from the odds as they’re posted on some website. Of course, website graphics printed in black and white and photocopied result in a quality resembling a Captcha test.
The employees behind the counter won’t be of much assistance. This is the first time they’ve ever worked in a sports book. In fact, most of these employees worked previously at the players club booth. Similarly, the supervisor is a former table-games supervisor. There are no seats to sit and watch the game the one screen is showing. There are no food and beverage options. The only potential upside to this operation is its fairly generous teaser odds. Of course, playing them will require your explaining to the clerk what a teaser bet is. This sports book needs a lot of work if it’s going to survive and be an asset to this property.
A Sports Book for Millennials
Continuing south down the boardwalk we come to an interesting space in what used to be the Wild West Casino which sits between Bally’s and Caesars. This formerly heavily themed casino space was an early victim of the economic downturn Atlantic City experienced in the last decade. Over the years, Caesars has tried multiple uses for the space. In the end, it appears they’ve decided on making it appealing to the millennial demographic. The very popular Mountain Bar offers live music and affordable food and drink. Then there’s an expansive space dedicated to games that casinos have decided millennials like to play: beer pong, American shuffleboard, and even a mechanical bull. Next to this area, in what used to be the table-games section of the old casino, they’ve built a sports book. The former cashier’s cage (still decorated as an old-timey western bank) is now the betting window. It feels like they hastily built a sports book in a rather odd place, which is essentially what they did. It’s a concept that could actually work once they re-theme the area.
Caesars books have never been known for their sports betting variety and this location is no different. Sides, totals, and money lines are standard. Very few prop bets are offered and even fewer derivative bets (e.g., quarters or innings). There’s currently no food or drink service in the sports book, but the aforementioned Mountain Bar is only steps away. The biggest improvements needed is the addition of more viewing screens and a more cohesive design. The screens currently used are relatively small for the space. Since this sports book services two casinos, and given its location, it does get crowded. However, the space is large enough that it might work well once fully realized.
Marina Options – Atlantic City’s Last Race Book
On the marina side of town, the Borgata is still the premier property in the city. It’s also home to the last operating race book in Atlantic City. MGM has plans to build a large sports book at the Borgata, but they didn’t commence construction until they knew that PASPA was overturned. As a result, for now the sports book at Borgata has to share space with the race book. The living situation is tense at best.
The horse bettors have long enjoyed a nice space with 100 individual viewing stations and large projection televisions. There’s even a cozy bar in the back. However, now half the room is dedicated to sports wagering and the space suddenly is cramped. The grizzly old horse bettors will be quick to let you know if you sit down at one of their viewing stations. There are five betting windows and the line to bet regularly extends out of the room and down the hall. Borgata also has a satellite betting window at an unused slot cashier station across from Bobby Flay Steaks.
With half the room dedicated to horses, there’s not enough viewing space for all the games on a football Saturday or Sunday. As a result, Borgata has changed its high-limit table-games/bar area, Level One, into a viewing lounge. They also direct a lot of people outside to the open-air Beer Garden for viewing. Right now, this is your best option for affordable food and drink during a game. Of course, as the weather turns colder this option runs out of viability. Perhaps in time Borgata will be able to handle the amount of sports betting traffic that the property generates. For now, expect to wait in long lines to wager. The book is fully managed by MGM and prices are in-line with pricing at MGM’s Las Vegas books.
A Nugget of a Sports Book
The Golden Nugget has put considerable effort into its sports book. The space is the former poker room located off the lobby across from the casino. While not the largest space, it’s been prepared well. There are many televisions along with couches and chairs for lounging. Beverage service is offered. Like Resorts, they use SBTech for the backend and the odds boards could use some work.
However, what sets Golden Nugget apart is a variety of special pricing features. First, they offer true odds on all parlays — odds are calculated without rounding down or factoring in extra vig. They also offer “boosted parlays,” on which a small bonus percentage that scales upward based on the number of teams in the parlay is added. This doesn’t tip the odds in your favor, but it does add an interesting twist. It’s available only on parlays using a point spread.
Golden Nugget also offers an early-cashout feature similar to what DraftKings brought to the online betting space. You can take a reduced payout on a wager before the entire bet is decided. As with DraftKings, the payouts offered are awful compared to your odds for keeping the bet. You’d do better finding someone in the sports book to buy the ticket from you than accept the sports book’s offer.
Minimal Effort by Harrahs
The last sports book I’ll mention is the one at Harrahs. This expansive property has a lot of innovative features including a lush indoor domed pool and a new convention center. However, the sports book seems like an afterthought. They converted a former keno lounge (I believe it was the last keno lounge left in the city) into a sports betting space. It’s fairly small and unimpressive. They figured the keno lounge chairs would work for sports bettors too so they didn’t even swap them out. The lines offered are, like the space between Caesars and Ballys, are direct from Caesars corporate in Las Vegas. There’s no food or drink options in this book other than maybe from a cocktail waitress who services some nearby slots. One upside to this location, though, is that it seems to never be crowded.
Still to come in New Jersey will be sports books opening at Tropicana (managed by William Hill) and Hard Rock Atlantic City (managed by Bet365) in the coming months. There may also be upward of 10 more online sports betting options opening in New Jersey before the football season is through. State law allows for three more racetrack locations too. There are definitely more sports betting options coming in New Jersey in the future. If you’ve visited any of these locations, I’d like to hear your feedback. If you have other site-specific questions not addressed, post them below.
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