Tempers were frayed as New Jersey legislators debated the fine points of sports betting. Demands from major-league representatives for ‘integrity fees’ got a frosty reception. Alluding to the legal bill the Garden State ran up 
fighting for legalized sports betting, Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D) said testily, “You guys are in it to make money. This is hypocrisy. Nine years of fighting the State of New Jersey, and you come here? It’s disgraceful. Just a suggestion: You may want to write a check to the State of New Jersey for $9 million.” You go, Ralph! We’re not out of the woods yet. Tortoise-powered Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is having his lawyers vet the bill and hasn’t committed to signing it nor saying how soon he’d let it go into action. (He has 45 days to run out the clock.) At least Murphy is in favor of the bill — which passed unanimously — telling an interviewer that sports betting is “gonna happen sooner than later in New Jersey, and that’s a good thing.” A Murphy spokesman said the guv has “long been supportive of New Jersey’s right to allow sports betting and he wants to ensure that the proposed regulatory scheme is fair and reasonable.”
Monmouth Park can jump the gun if it wants, because legislators permitted any operator that so wants to go ahead (using a 2014 bill as justification) without fear of penalty. For the moment the track is deferring to Murphy. A subplot in all this is that Murphy may be using the sports-betting bill as a catspaw to extract concession from Democrats in the Lege, as budget negotiations crawl toward a June 30 government shutdown. At least Tilman Fertitta (below) won’t have to choose between the Golden Nuggets and the Houston Rockets: A provision that would have left him out in the cold, with no sports betting whatsoever, was replaced with one only barring him from taking NBA bets. That wasn’t totally satisfying to Nugget 
General Manager Tom Pohlman, who said, “we hope to persuade the lawmakers over time that the total NBA ban is unnecessary and should be limited simply to the Houston Rockets.” That’s how it’s done in Nevada and ought to be good enough for the Garden State. (Among the fine points of the bill is that it bans betting on e-sports, which some will say was a mistake.)
Another delay that’s creating some vexation is the 30-day hold on mobile sports wagering after the bill becomes law, effectively leaving money on the table. “You’re providing less of an incentive to customers to enter or migrate over from a black market to legal and regulated channels. Convenience will always trump driving 20 or 30 miles,” said attorney Daniel Wallach. (Why does Trump always come to mind when discussing New Jersey?) While the Lege is expecting a $100 million revenue market for sports betting, state Treasurer Elizabeth Muoio clearly remembers the mistaken euphoria over Internet gambling. Her estimate? $13 million.
