The latest responsible gambling proposal in New Jersey hinges on how gaming operators can encourage users to gamble.
Sen. Andrew Zwicker introduced Senate Bill 3401 on Monday, legislation that would ban licensed online casinos and sportsbooks from using mobile push notifications or text messages to solicit wagers or deposits. The bill specifically focuses on operators sending those kinds of alerts to users who do not currently have the app open or visible on screen.
New Jersey would be able to fine operators up to $500 per instance if they violated the prohibition.
The ban would apply to not only online sportsbooks and iCasino platforms but all gaming licensees in New Jersey, also including Atlantic City casinos and retail sportsbooks.
New Jersey legislators put RG front and center
The first state to legalize online sports betting post-PASPA and a core online casino jurisdiction, New Jersey has typically been one of the most proactive states in looking to add more responsible gambling safeguards to its online gaming market.
A packet of legislative proposals last year covered a range of topics including restricting advertising. One pair of companion bills aimed to not only implement new restrictions on where gambling can be advertised but also mandate a study of how the language used in ads affects bettors, including detailing a list of approved terminology.
That legislation would have required the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to review “the effectiveness of various words and phrases” used in advertisements for casino games and sportsbooks, with the aim of ensuring that responsible gambling advertising actually has the desired impact. The bills also suggested banning gambling advertising in or close to schools or colleges as well as prohibiting marketing in any media that “predominantly” targets people aged under 21.
Another 2025 bill would have banned any online advertisement for sports betting, as well as marketing shared via any digital platform.
This year, several pieces of legislation are in play in the Garden State aside from S3401. For a start, those aforementioned 2025 bills on advertising have been carried over to this year.
Meanwhile, S3420 aims to prevent sportsbooks from offering incentives to users who have used responsible gambling tools, such as deposit limits or self-exclusion measures. New Jersey is also one of multiple states considering banning credit cards for the use of online gambling this year.
New Jersey not only state to target push notifications
Amid the raft of responsible gaming-related bills introduced each year across the U.S., other legislatures have also looked to tackle the issue of gambling push notifications.
Some of the many provisions in the SAFE Bet Act in Congress included restricting push notifications, AI-generated betting promotions and late-night ads. In Minnesota, a senator’s proposal to legalize online sports betting last year included a measure that licensed apps would not be able to nudge users to entice them back onto the app during periods of inactivity.
The topic has also extended into the world of prediction markets this year.
Next door to New Jersey in New York, a bill to prohibit markets on “catastrophic events,” politics, deaths, securities and most sports contracts included several responsible gambling (or responsible trading?) requirements for any prediction markets doing business in the Empire State. The proposals include minimum age limits, a way for people to self-exclude and set their own trading limits, a ban on credit cards, advertising restrictions such as a prohibition on phrases like “risk-free” and a ban on push notifications encouraging trading.
