Online Gambling is Huge in New Jersey: Is Oregon Next?

Should Oregon consider similar legislation?

Oregon State Capitol Photo by Bonnie King Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - On February 26th, 2013, then New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed Assembly Bill 2578, which effectively legalized online poker and casino games in the Garden State into law.

9 months later the first regulated websites in the state went live, which set the ball rolling on the growth of an industry that has since experienced overwhelming success.

New Jersey made history once again when, in 2018, it became the first state outside of Nevada to offer legalized sports gambling. Thanks to New Jersey’s fight to legalize sports betting, any state today can legalize sports betting if they want to. These days, bettors wager more in the Garden State than they do anywhere else in the world.

Several years and billions in bets later, the Garden States’ 8-year long struggle to fight pro sports leagues to legalize sports betting has paid off big time.

At a national level, New Jersey opened the flood gates for sports betting to become legal all over the country. On a local level, legal sports betting has proven to be extremely beneficial for the local economy.

Sports betting has not only provided a much-needed jolt to the once struggling state’s casinos and horse racing industries, but it has also created thousands of new jobs while supplying the state with an extra boost in tax revenue. Many would characterize New Jersey as a success story and model for the rest of the country.

Today, New Jersey is scheduled to dethrone Nevada as the gambling capital of America. Since sports betting was legalized in the Garden State, 20 other states have followed suit and many others are working to enact or approve it.

You can learn more about the amazing progress made by New Jersey here: https://www.njgamblingfun.com/nj/online-casinos-new-jersey. One state such state that has high hopes of making legalized sports betting a reality, is Oregon.

Why is legalized sports betting in Oregon important?

However, Sports Action only managed to run until 2007 when it was thwarted by the NCAA, which threatened the state from being considered as hosts for any NCAA basketball games. Had the state legalized sports betting in 2009, Oregon would have been unable to enjoy the football bowls, March Madness regional action, and all the prominent college tournaments that it has come to love.

Even though residents of Oregon have been wagering on sports illegally for years until very recently, a gambler could only place a bet legally in Nevada.

Oregon, alongside other states such as Montana and Delaware, were only allowed to offer sports-related lottery or bingo games, but it has never allowed gamblers to place bets on specific sporting events.

However, Oregon changed all that when the Supreme Court’s momentous decision gave the state free reign over sports gambling regulation. Here is the thing that many people already know about the sports betting industry pre-legalization; sports gambling was already taking place in Oregon in the shadows.

By legalizing the market, it made it much safer for people to gamble because everything is now legitimate and above board. Even Oregon is not yet as successful as New Jersey, reducing the activity in the illegal market has definitely been worthwhile.

Legalized sports betting has also helped to raise the state’s tax revenue, but more importantly, it has ensured that punters are always protected whenever disputes arise.

Today, punters in Oregon enjoy a wide variety of options whenever they want to bet. The Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City Oregon was the first in the state to open a sportsbook in 2019. Shortly afterward, the Mill Casino & Hotel in North Bend also started offering punters self-serve kiosks.

In the future, the following casinos in Oregon are expected to offer sports betting in some form:

• Kla-Mo-Ya Casino, Chiloquin
• Wildhorse Resort & Casino, Pendleton
• Old Camp Casino, Burns
• Seven Feathers Casino Resort, Canyonville
• Spirit Mountain Casino, Grand Ronde
• Three Rivers Casino, Florence
• Indian Head Casino, Warm Springs
• Three Rivers Casino, Coos Bay

Unlike certain states like Illinois, Oregon allows punters to sign up for sports betting accounts on their devices instead of in-person. The Oregon Lottery also offers citizens ‘Score Board’ the state-sanctioned sports betting app that was created in partnership with European SBTech.

The app is available for any punters in the state, but it has been geo-targeted such that individuals wishing to bet on tribal lands cannot utilize it.

Bettors can bet on any professional sports of their liking. However, punters are still banned from betting on college sports programs in the state, for good reason. Please note that a few of the tribal casinos in the state do offer wagering on professional and college sports.

Aside from the state’s casinos, punters in Oregon also enjoy Daily Fantasy sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel. Offshore sportsbooks, on the other hand, are not permitted in Oregon. As such, such sportsbooks like Bovada so not accept Oregon residents as clients.

Given the strong foundation that Oregon already enjoyed, the future of sports betting in the state has never shined brighter. Because of its lottery centric approach, Oregon’s model is much different from New Jersey’s and Nevada’s, which is great news for punters in the state looking to enjoy a unique betting experience.

Final Thoughts

The good news is that the state is already off to a great start, which means that there is more to look forward to as technology advances. As gambling continues to become an acceptable practice, the state will see even more punters signing up.

Source: Salem-News.com Special Features Dept.