New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racecourse is now looking likely to be the first venue outside Nevada to offer fully regulated sports betting for its customers. Thanks to substantial preparation work in advance of the PASPA strikedown by operator Darby Development LLC, Monmouth Park could take its first bet within the next two weeks.
CEO Dennis Drazin confirmed that two weeks is realistic, adding: “There’s a possibility we could be ready sooner.” Asked why betting would not be available immediately, he commented: “It takes a couple of weeks to finish the technology. We weren’t sure which way the Supreme Court would rule. We were very confident of victory but there were two paths and we wanted to make sure we got it right. Now that they have determined PASPA is unconstitutional the legislator will enact new laws, the governor will sign that into place here in New Jersey and in the meantime we’re going to try to get up and running until that happens on a privately regulated basis.”
In terms of the anticipated revenue coming into New Jersey, Drazin estimates that it will run in to several billion dollars He remarked: “Because of our demographics and because of comparisons that we can draw from Nevada, we think the market here in New Jersey is about $10bn.” Talking more generally about the legal battle to overturn PASPA, he said: “This has been a fight which has really been tantamount to the survival of the horse racing industry in the state.”