With about 45 percent of precincts reporting and with a nearly 2-to-1 margin New Jerseyeans supported a measure that would permit the legalization of sports betting in Atlantic City casinos four horse tracks and a former racetrack site in Cherry Hill.
The AP called the race around 9:45 p.m.
Early returns showed New Jersey residents backing the legalization of betting on football, baseball and other sports -- both professional and collegiate -- provided a federal ban is lifted.
The sole statewide question on the ballot asked whether New Jersey should pass a law that would be the first step toward permitting sports betting.
A federal ban on sports betting in all but four states would also have to be repealed before anyone in the Garden State could legally bet on professional, college or amateur sports. Bets would not be allowed on any college sports or athletic events that take place in New Jersey or in which a New Jersey college team is playing.
"New Jersey voters have sent Congress a message that its law which has allowed sports betting in Las Vegas, but not in Atlantic City, is unfair," said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, an Elizabeth Democrat who has been the Legislature's biggest proponent of sports betting. "I'm confident the federal courts will see that injustice as well as the law's other constitutional infirmities, and overturn it."
Lesniak said he will introduce legislation on Thursday laying the groundwork for sports betting in New Jersey. He said the bill would be fast-tracked through the Legislature and sent to the governor to sign before Jan. 10, when the legislative session ends.
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
He had sued to overturn the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which bars betting in most states, but a judge dismissed the challenge in March.
New Jersey missed a 1991 federal deadline to legalize sports betting, and it was left out of a 1992 law that allowed it in Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. Nevada is the only state taking legal bets on individual games.
The benefits to the casinos and tracks would come not so much by flooding them with new revenue from sports bets, but by drawing more customers, who would presumably gamble and spend money on other things as well.
"It's another amenity," said Dennis Gomes, co-owner of Resorts Casino Hotel, who started one of Nevada's first sports books in Las Vegas decades ago. "You're giving your casino customers another reason to come here. There's a lot more money in that, from those extra people coming down and playing at the casino than there is from the money people actually bet on sports."
Gov. Chris Christie endorsed the idea. He says people all over the country are betting on sports illegally and that it's time to bring the gambling out of the shadows and let the state benefit from the money it generates.
Fan, follow and download: Get the latest from NBCPhiladelphia.com anytime, anywhere. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and NBC Philadelphia. Sign up for our sports newsletter. And, get breaking news delivered right to your mobile phone -- just text PHIBREAKING to 639710 to sign up. (Message and data rates may apply.)
