The hype around sports betting in the USA has been generating good business for years—not just in the gambling paradise of Las Vegas but, since legalization in 2018, also in cities like Atlantic City. The hype around sports betting is very advantageous for the city, as gambling is booming and breaking records. A hotel room in the casino city of Atlantic City, New Jersey, has its TV set to the casino advertising channel. Every five minutes, commercials from various online sports betting providers or for the National Casino play
These have been legal in the USA since 2018 and are experiencing an unstoppable rush. During this year’s Super Bowl, the final game of the American football league, $7.6 billion was wagered alone. It was the state of New Jersey that made sports betting possible through a lawsuit at the Supreme Court. The then-governor Chris Christie sought new sources of revenue for the cash-strapped state, sued against a law that prohibited sports betting—and won. Atlantic City, New Jersey’s gambling capital, was prepared for this, says David Rebuck, supervisor of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement: “We learned a lot from the Europeans about what they do, but we didn’t want to flip the switch because their business model would allow sports betting providers to go directly to the people.” Rebuck and his team looked at sports betting models in Europe, learned from them, but did not copy them.
One thing they didn’t like was that sports betting providers could market their offerings online directly to players—existing casinos would miss out. “That’s why we developed a hybrid model in New Jersey that allows operators of casinos and racetracks to essentially offer two types of sports events: one on their premises and one online.” New Jersey’s solution: casinos receive betting licenses, and online providers are allowed to offer their sports bets in the state—but they must have some form of presence in a casino, such as through a café or bar. “You cannot place a bet or create an account before you are verified.”
Only those physically located in the state can gamble. Anyone wanting to bet with providers licensed in New Jersey must be located within the state. A step over the state line with a smartphone and the account is blocked. Therefore, Rebuck and his team monitor the location of an online betting account in the state with precision. That this business model works is evident when looking at the casinos in Atlantic City. While only a few tourists gather at the classic slot machines, roulette, and poker tables, the sports bars—usually located right at the entrance—are well-filled. Comfortable chairs, affordable drinks, and countless screens showing football, racing, football, rugby, and much more. Bets are placed with one hand on the smartphone and a drink in the other. There is little conversation, especially not into the microphones of German journalists.
However, Atlantic City’s Mayor Marty Small Sr. is happy to talk with the German press: “Sports and online betting helped us enormously during the pandemic, and New Jersey quickly became the number one state for sports betting in the country, and we are very pleased that Atlantic City has a lot to do with it.”
