Lawmakers consider limits on sports betting ads at NJ colleges
Rowan University senior Aidan Dougherty celebrated his 21st birthday on June 5, 2024, with his dad, Richard, rooting for the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
He also placed his first legal bet, on a later game: $10 on Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa to hit a home run. Correa didn’t come through, but Dougherty found a new pastime. Within months, he was a seasoned gambler, using the FanDuel app to place bets on baseball, football, and basketball.
After a $600 win on a parlay, a combined bet with potential for a higher payout, he vowed not to let his hobby become a habit.
“I was like, ‘Don’t get addicted, don’t get addicted.’ Just because it’s happened once, like, you got lightning in a bottle,” said Dougherty, a sports communication and media major from Bellmawr. “I definitely have friends who have lost a good amount of money, even up to $1,000-plus. These are college kids we’re talking about.”
Seven years after New Jersey legalized sports betting, lawmakers are working on legislation to ban or curb gambling advertising on public college campuses. Though the advertising agreements can be lucrative for schools, college-age sports fans are considered particularly vulnerable to addiction.
Michigan and Colorado
In February, the New Jersey Assembly passed a bill prohibiting companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings from advertising at college stadiums and during game broadcasts. Assemblywoman Linda Carter, a Democrat from Plainfield who sponsored the bill, said: “We must protect our students from the risks of gambling addiction by keeping these types of promotions off of campuses, where young adults are most vulnerable.”
While that bill languished without action by the Senate, the Assembly on March 24 approved a second, less restrictive bill. Ads would be allowed, so long as students have access to campus-based help if they get hooked. That legislation, too, hasn’t been considered by senators, whose own versions of both bills have stalled in committee.
Some colleges in other states have dipped into the lucrative sports betting advertising revenue stream, only to turn away.
Michigan State University’s $8.4 million deal with Caesars Sportsbook ended four years early. The University of Colorado’s Boulder campus and PointsBet in 2023 pulled out of a $1.6 million contract, saying it was “mutually beneficial to end their partnership.”
So far, no New Jersey public colleges have gambling advertising contracts.
“It’s important that colleges allow companies that are in the responsible gaming space to educate the students,” said Bill Pascrell III, a New Jersey-based lobbyist who has promoted legalized sports betting around the country. “We’re not educating students on how to gamble. We’re educating students on: If you do gamble, to do it responsibly,” he said.
‘Smarter bets. Bigger profits’
The issue is especially acute for college-age men. Among males 16 to 25 years old, 80% reported that they began betting before they reached legal age, according to a 2023 study by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey. Since legal sports betting began in 2018, the council’s help hotline has logged a 277% increase in calls, a majority from young men.
Other research, by the Rutgers Center for Gambling Studies, found that gamblers 18 to 20 years old were significantly more likely to chase their losses and bet beyond what they could afford.
New Jersey’s attempts to combat college kids’ gambling exposure has its skeptics.
“Good for the legislature for recognizing it, but what does that actually do? Is a ban on advertising really going to stop them?” said “Captain” Jack Andrews, who co-founded Unabated.com, a website that advertises sports-gambling tips with the slogan, “Smarter bets. Bigger profits.”
Dougherty, the Rowan student who celebrated his birthday with a $10 wager, said his peers don’t need ads because sports gambling companies’ free-bet promotions are lure enough. For anyone developing a problem, he said, campus-based education and support hold only so much potential to help.
“My only fear is, I don’t know how many people would actually go for it,” he said.
This article was written by Paige Britt, courtesy of the NJ State House News Service
