Last Thursday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy placed a $20 bet on Germany to win the World Cup. Really going out on a limb there by picking the defending World Cup champs to repeat, Gov!
With that wager at the Monmouth Park Sports Book by William Hill (175 Oceanport Avenue, Oceanport, NJ 07757), New Jersey sports betting went live, seemingly opening up the floodgate for the state’s economy to get a massive boost. Monmouth even posted this handy guide on how to place a sports bet.
Later on the same day, NBA Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving placed the first sports bet in Atlantic City history — a $5 wager at the Race & Sports Book room in the Borgata (1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City, NJ 08401) on the Philadelphia Eagles to repeat as Super Bowl champs in 2019.
“I’ll hold onto this ticket for a while, at least until next year,” Erving told NJ.com after placing the first sports bet in the history of Atlantic City, which previously only accepted wagers on horse racing.
Fellow Atlantic City sites such as the Ocean Resort Casino(at the former Revel) and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino(at the former Trump Taj Mahal site) are slated to open on June 28 and also offer sports betting, as reported by NJ.com.
“This is a game changer,” president of the New Jersey Senate, Stephen Sweeney, told NJ.com. “This is going to actually provide more people coming into Atlantic City, which we care a great deal about, and of course our race tracks.”
This is only the beginning of what’s bound to be booming sports betting activity since New Jersey won its U.S. Supreme Court case last month to legalize sports betting.
