Legislation in New Jersey aimed at prohibiting public institutions of higher learning from forming partnerships and accepting marketing buys from sports betting companies advanced on Monday. The New Jersey Assembly Higher Education Committee unanimously approved Assembly Bill 4113 by a 6-0 vote. Introduced in April by Assemblypersons Linda Carter (D-Plainfield), Benjie Wimberly (D-Paterson), and Reginald Atkins (D-Roselle), the statute seeks to ban sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel from sponsoring public colleges and universities.
If passed by the New Jersey Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, the statute would exclude all sportsbook and sports betting advertisements from public campuses and associated events. This restriction would extend to athletic departments and booster clubs across all advertising mediums and sponsorship formats. AB 4133 would also ban sports betting ads in all stadiums and facilities, including gameday programs.
New Jersey’s existing sports betting law already prohibits oddsmakers from taking bets on games involving state-based colleges and universities and forbids betting on any college sport taking place inside the Garden State, regardless of whether the contest involves a state-based school. In 2021, New Jersey voters rejected a ballot measure that would have lifted those restrictions.
Sports betting is legal and operational in various forms in 38 states and Washington, DC. After the US Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on single-game sports wagering in May 2018, states moved rapidly to capture new tax revenue from sports gambling. However, the swift implementation of these laws and regulations has been met with criticism from federal lawmakers. Earlier this month, US Rep. Paul Tonko (D-New York) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) introduced a bill in Congress that would require states with legal sports betting to adhere to a series of federal regulations designed to protect consumers from problem gambling.
States have pushed back against Tonko and Blumenthal’s bill, arguing that they are best equipped to regulate gambling and sports betting within their jurisdictions. AB 4113 demonstrates that lawmakers in states regulating sportsbooks continue to review their sports betting protocols. “On both sides of the aisle, we realize that we have to put guards up to protect our residents,” Wimberly told NJ Spotlight News.
Carter and Atkins co-chair the Assembly Higher Education Committee, and Wimberly is a member of the committee. Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R-Middletown) was the lone Republican participating in the six-member vote, while the only other Republican, Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence), did not vote on the sports betting bill.
Similar efforts to ban sports betting sponsorships at New Jersey’s public institutions have failed in previous years. Last year’s assembly measure also passed the Higher Education Committee but stalled in the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee. Rutgers, the largest public college in New Jersey, already prohibits its student-athletes from entering into name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with casinos and sports betting entities. Unlike LSU and Michigan State, Rutgers currently has no official sportsbook relationships.
In Louisiana, LSU came under fire in 2022 when students received a promotion from Caesars Sportsbook in their university email inboxes, encouraging them to “place your first bet and earn your first bonus.” The resulting controversy led to LSU terminating the seven-figure deal in 2023. Michigan State also ended its Caesars Sportsbook agreement that same year after facing similar scrutiny.
