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Is Sports Betting Legal in New Jersey? Yes, It Started Here (2026)

✓ Last verified: 2026-08-01

Yes. Sports betting is legal in New Jersey, online and in person, and has been since June 2018. More than that: New Jersey is the reason it is legal anywhere. The state’s own Supreme Court case, Murphy v. NCAA, struck down the federal ban on May 14, 2018 and opened sports betting to every state that wanted it. If you are 21 or older and physically inside New Jersey, you can bet on about 14 licensed apps or at Atlantic City casinos and the racetracks. This is the deepest, most competitive legal market outside Nevada.

New Jersey spent seven years and millions in legal fees to win the fight nobody thought it could. Here is the story, and everything the market looks like today.

Quick facts

New Jersey status (July 2026)
Online (mobile) betting✅ Legal since August 2018
Retail sportsbooks✅ Legal since June 14, 2018
Minimum age21+
Online tax rate19.75% (raised from 13% on July 1, 2025)
Retail tax rate8.5%
Live online sportsbooks14 brands reporting revenue in June 2026 (a field that once topped 25)
Market rank3rd by handle (~$12.2B in 2025), behind NY and IL
College betting❌ NJ teams (anywhere) and any college game held in NJ
Online casino / iGaming✅ Legal since 2013 (New York has none)
Prediction markets (Kalshi)⚠️ NJ is where Kalshi won in court
RegulatorNJ Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE)

Murphy v. NCAA: the case that legalized betting nationwide

Before 2018, a federal law called PASPA froze sports betting almost everywhere outside Nevada. New Jersey decided to fight it. Voters approved a betting referendum in 2011 (about 64% in favor), the legislature passed a Sports Wagering Act in 2012, and the major sports leagues (the NCAA plus the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB) promptly sued the state to stop it.

New Jersey lost, repeatedly: at the district court, then at the Third Circuit, twice. But it kept appealing, and the Supreme Court finally took the case. On May 14, 2018, the Court ruled 6 to 3 (opinion by Justice Alito) that PASPA violated the Tenth Amendment by “commandeering” states into enforcing a federal ban. New Jersey, the state defending its own law, won as the petitioner. The case had started as Christie v. NCAA and was renamed Murphy v. NCAA when Phil Murphy became governor.

That single decision is why sports betting is now legal in roughly 39 states plus D.C.. New Jersey did not just legalize betting for itself; it removed the wall for everyone.

How the market launched

Because New Jersey had already legalized online casino gaming in 2013, it layered sports betting onto an existing internet-gambling system. That head start is why New Jersey’s market matured faster and deeper than anyone else’s.

The market, and the 2025 tax hike

New Jersey was the number-one US market until New York’s mobile launch in January 2022 overtook it. Today it is the third-largest by handle, with about $12.2 billion wagered in 2025 behind New York and Illinois. Roughly 96% of that is placed on phones.

The big 2025 change was the tax. Effective July 1, 2025, New Jersey raised the online sports betting tax from 13% to 19.75% of gross revenue (bill A5803), and unified online casino and daily fantasy at the same rate. Governor Murphy had first proposed 25%; 19.75% was the negotiated compromise. Retail betting stayed at 8.5%, and once New Jersey’s standing 1.25% investment levy is added, the effective online rate sits near 21%.

For bettors, the tax matters the way it does everywhere: operators keep less, so promotions get a little leaner. New Jersey is still far friendlier than New York’s 51%, which is one reason the two states are constantly compared.

Who you can bet with

Every New Jersey online sportsbook runs as a branded “skin” attached to a land-based partner: an Atlantic City casino or one of the racetracks, each allowed up to three skins. That structure is why New Jersey became the most crowded market in the country, with more than 25 brands at the peak.

Fourteen brands reported New Jersey online sportsbook revenue in June 2026, the most recent month the Division of Gaming Enforcement has published. That is our count of its revenue table, which lists fifteen lines because Caesars runs two separate skins, one through Tropicana and one through Monmouth Park. The DGE publishes the table, not a total. They are led by:

FanDuel (via the Meadowlands), DraftKings (via Resorts), BetMGM (via Borgata), Caesars (via Monmouth Park), and bet365 (via Hard Rock), plus Fanatics, BetRivers, and Hard Rock Bet.

The market has thinned since its peak: PointsBet, Unibet, Betway, WynnBET, SuperBook and Sporttrade have all exited, and ESPN BET rebranded to theScore Bet on December 1, 2025. If a “best New Jersey sportsbooks” list still names those dead brands, it is out of date.

The college betting rule

New Jersey’s college restriction has two prongs, and it is stricter than most states realize:

This is the exact rule people wrongly attribute to other states. New York, for example, bans games with New York teams but does not have New Jersey’s venue prong, and neighboring Pennsylvania allows in-state college betting outright. A narrow tournament exception means the ban works game by game, so an out-of-state-based tournament with one game in New Jersey is not automatically blocked. The restriction is written into the state’s constitutional authorization, so removing it needs a voter referendum, and New Jersey voters rejected exactly that in 2021. Regulators enforce it: the DGE once fined BetMGM $25,000 for taking bets it should not have.

Prediction markets: New Jersey is where Kalshi won

Here is the twist that makes New Jersey the most interesting state in the prediction-market fight: it is the one place the platforms have already won in court.

In KalshiEX LLC v. Flaherty, a divided Third Circuit (the appeals court covering New Jersey) ruled 2 to 1 on April 6, 2026 that federal commodities law likely preempts state gambling law for sports-event contracts, and it upheld an injunction barring New Jersey from enforcing its gambling laws against Kalshi. In practice, Kalshi can offer New Jerseyans contracts that licensed New Jersey sportsbooks legally cannot, including on college sports.

That is the mirror image of New York, where a federal judge denied Kalshi the same protection on July 7, 2026. One appeals court has sided with Kalshi and one trial court has gone the other way, so this is a genuine conflict of authority, though not yet a settled split between two appeals courts. New Jersey is asking the Supreme Court to take the case. Justice Alito first gave the state until August 4, 2026 to file, then on July 24, 2026 extended it again to September 3, 2026. No petition has been filed yet, so nothing is in front of the Justices to grant or deny. However the Justices handle it, New Jersey is where the pro-Kalshi precedent currently lives. For the state that went the opposite direction entirely, see Minnesota’s felony ban.

The offshore trap

Even in the deepest legal market in the country, offshore books like Bovada, BetOnline, and MyBookie still market to New Jerseyans. They are unlicensed, hold no segregated player funds, and cannot be forced to pay you. The FBI issued a public warning against them in late 2025. With about 14 regulated apps to choose from, there is no reason to gamble on an operator no regulator can touch.

The honest 2026 outlook

New Jersey’s market is mature and stable: broad choice, legal iGaming, monthly handle around $1 billion. The live questions are narrow. The Kalshi appeals will shape whether prediction markets keep their New Jersey foothold. On tax, Governor Mikie Sherrill’s $60.7 billion budget, signed June 30, 2026, left sports betting alone: the rates are still 19.75% online and 8.5% retail. Two 2026 proposals aimed at changing that, and they ended up in very different places. A 9% surtax on prediction-market operators cleared both budget committees on June 28, 2026 and is paused rather than dead, with the fight resuming in the fall. A temporary World Cup surcharge on sportsbook revenue never got a committee hearing at all, and the tournament it was tied to finished on July 19, 2026 with the final at MetLife Stadium. For a bettor, the practical picture is simple: legal, deep, regulated, 21-and-up, inside state lines, with the two-part college rule as the main thing that will surprise you.

FAQ

When did New Jersey legalize sports betting? Retail betting launched June 14, 2018, weeks after the Supreme Court’s May 14, 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA. Online betting followed in August 2018.

What sportsbook apps are legal in New Jersey? Fourteen brands reported revenue in June 2026, led by FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, and bet365. Note that ESPN BET is now theScore Bet, and several older brands (PointsBet, Unibet, WynnBET, Sporttrade) have left.

Can I bet on Rutgers or a game at the Prudential Center? No. New Jersey bans betting on in-state college teams anywhere, and on any college game played at a New Jersey venue, even between two out-of-state teams.

Is online casino legal in New Jersey? Yes, since 2013. That is the big difference from New York, which has sports betting but no legal online casino.

Why did New Jersey betting promos get worse in 2025? The state raised the online tax from 13% to 19.75% effective July 1, 2025. Higher tax means operators can afford fewer promotions.

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