New Jersey Sports Betting Secure State Tax Income During Covid-19

Gambling has always been a touchy subject and reasons to allow it to happen legally have been few and far between. However, if there is one good reason to allow gambling it is for the taxes it helps collect. Never has this impact been felt as strongly as during the Covid-19 pandemic which has left state coffers greatly depleted in many states

New Jersey was the first state to adopt online sports betting following the Supreme Court’s repealing of the controversial PASPA law and it is now raking a significant tax income from sports gambling. We took a look at the implications of this tax income and how it is helping New Jersey cope with the pandemic.

New Jersey the Sports Betting Heaven

Before 2018, online sports betting in the USA was something that could only be done on illegal international betting sites. This all changed as the Supreme Court repealed the law that prohibited all sports betting nationwide and New Jersey was the first to grab the opportunity.

To date, the state has licensed 14 different online betting apps, each of them available to players throughout the state. These apps allow for betting on all types of sports including live matches and allow punters to put their free sports picks to use in the best way.

2019 was the first year that legal online sports betting was possible in New Jersey and the results started coming in right ahead. In the first year, the state raked in over $22 Million in taxes and most of that came from the online betting apps. In comparison, states like Pennsylvania and Rhode Island raked in significantly less, mostly due to having fewer and less available online betting apps.

Gambling Taxes Helping through the Crisis

The Covid-19 crisis that took the world by storm in 2020 has been one of the greatest challenges of the modern time. For months now, New Jersey and other states have been in a state of partial lockdown, causing people to lose jobs, entire industries to be put on hold and a massive pressure on federal and state coffers.

With people staying indoors much more than before, online gambling has soared, including sports betting. While the numbers are still coming in, it is clear that online sports betting numbers in New Jersey have gone up significantly, especially since the sports seasons have been returned to normal.

The fact is that gambling taxes only make up a small portion of the overall taxation in any state, but it is a luxury that New Jersey has and most other states don’t. As reports start rolling in over the next few months, we will find out just how big a portion of the overall tax income in New Jersey in 2020 has come from online sports betting, but we can expect it to be a healthy sum not to be ignored.