New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy bet that the New Jersey Devils will win the Stanley Cup, while basketball legend Julius Erving bet that Philadelphia’s football team will repeat as champions on Thursday, the day betting on professional sports became legal in the state.
At the Monmouth Park racetrack, Murphy placed US$20 bets on Germany to win the World Cup and his state’s Devils to win the Stanley Cup next season.
Thirty minutes later and 113km to the south at the Borgata, Erving put US$5 on the Philadelphia Eagles to repeat as NFL champions.
New Jersey fought for eight years against a federal law that had limited sports betting to four states — Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon.
“We knew in our heads we were right, and we knew in our hearts we would win,” Murphy said. “We’ve got a lot of good times ahead.”
Al Pniewski took the day off from his warehouse job at a food service company to bet US$100 on the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the next Super Bowl, at 12-1 odds.
“My wife thinks I’m nuts for doing this,” he said. “This has been a long time coming. On college football Saturdays, me and my brother-in-law are gonna be here every weekend.”
Greg Visone bet on Russia to prevail in its opening World Cup match against Saudi Arabia.
Pniewski and Visone had previously placed bets with neighborhood bookies, as well as offshore internet sites. Both had gotten burned at least once dealing with the shady side of sports betting.
Pniewski lost his money with a Web site when he tried to cash out, and Visone got lured in by fake odds of 40-1 on a soccer game that turned out to be 4-1 after he had wired his money to make the bet.
Those sorts of experiences are among the things legal sports betting aims to prevent.
New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement on Wednesday issued its sports betting regulations, and the activity is subject to numerous consumer protections.
The line of would-be sports gamblers at the Borgata stretched down a staircase and into the parking lot before betting began at 11am.
Dennis Drazin, who runs Monmouth Park, said the track has spent US$5 million in the run-up to sports betting on physical renovations and legal fees, adding that he was “euphoric” to see the first bets actually placed.
Online sports betting would not start for at least 30 days in New Jersey. Until then, it is limited to casinos and horse tracks.
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