Governor signs; N.J. gets green light for fixed-odds racing

It comes too late for the state's biggest day for horseplayers at the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell. New Jersey has finally authorized fixed-odds wagering on races, and it is also probably too late for Saturday's $1 million Hambletonian harness race at the Meadowlands.

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) signed the bill Thursday that was unanimously approved in the state legislature 45 days ago, according to his website.

Monmouth Park said in a statement Thursday that "fixed-odds wagering will be available (there) in the coming weeks" in partnership with BetMakers Technology Group.

"It provides our patrons with another wagering option that we firmly believe will be a popular one," said Dennis Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development, which runs Monmouth Park.

The Fixed Odds Wagering Act was passed June 21 by the state Senate in a 40-0 vote and by the General Assembly 71-0. Proponents had hoped Murphy would have signed it into law before July 17. That was when the Haskell anchored a 14-race card at Monmouth Park that attracted an all-sources pari-mutuel handle of $16,414,535.

Saturday's 16-race card for the Hambletonian might bring in only a fraction of that, but it is still annually the biggest day for harness betting in the country. Despite COVID, last year's card had $5,730,615 of action. In 2019 it lured $6,501,778.

Based in Australia, BetMakers has long been poised to launch a fixed-odds betting menu in New Jersey alongside the existing pari-mutuels. Dallas Baker, head of international operations for BetMakers, said he understood what took Murphy so long to sign the bill.

"The governor had more than 200 bills on his desk from the last couple of weeks of the houses sitting this session, and we’ve always been highly respectful of the process that is required to get a bill like this through," Baker said in an email Thursday night. "We are highly thankful of way the idea has been embraced by all the levels of government."

Monmouth Park management pushed for the added choice in the belief it will attract players who have been turned off by the ever-fluctuating pari-mutuel market, which recently has been dominated by batch bettors using computer programs to make big wagers in return for rebates.

Both BetMakers and Monmouth Park pointed out that the New Jersey Racing Commission and the Division of Gaming Enforcement would still have to provide them specific regulator approval before they could offer fixed-odds menus.

“Monmouth Park should be the first 'cab off the rank' with sportsbooks to follow," Baker said. "Under the legislation, all tracks in New Jersey and licensed sports-betting operators now have the option to 'opt-in' to fixed-odds wagering on racing. Our plan at Monmouth once we get the said 'green light' from the regulators is to start off the first week or two by offering fixed-odds betting on Monmouth Park races and then rolling in all the other content from both the U.S. and many of the international jurisdictions that rights are obtained from."

In its statement Thursday, Monmouth Park said fixed odds would be offered first at designated windows on win, place and show bets with a minimum wager of $1. Flat screens in the grandstand and clubhouse will display fixed odds separately from the pari-mutuel prices.

The fixed-odds wagers will be limited in the beginning to races at Monmouth Park. Other tracks would be added to the menu if they were to make contractual deals through BetMakers.

"It is important to note that, for any operator or track to bet on content from anywhere in the world, commercial agreements need to be in place between those wagering operators and the host track," Baker said. "This was a critical component to the legislation as it ensures that, if any racing content from anywhere in the world is wagered on, the host track gets rightful compensation that will go back to funding of the horse-racing industry."

Critics of fixed odds contend private bookmakers will be quick to impose hard limits on potentially successful bettors in order to minimize their exposure to financial losses. They also say the pari-mutuel market could be cannibalized by the fixed-odds marketplace.