A new law has been formally put forward by New Jersey Senator John McGinley. This legislation suggests raising the tax rate on online gambling and sports betting to 30%.
At present, online gambling and sports betting are taxed at 15% and 13% of their total earnings, respectively.
Senate Bill 3064 was officially submitted on April 8th, following its introduction last week. The bill has been sent to the Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee for review.
If approved, the bill would modify Section 17 of P.L.2013, c.27 (C.5:12-95.19), which establishes the tax rate for online gambling. Section 7 of P.L.2018, c.33 (C.5:12A-16), which covers sports betting taxes, would also be altered.
According to the bill’s text, if the legislature endorses the proposal, it will come into effect on the following January 1st after its enactment.
The 30% tax rate would impose a significant financial burden on New Jersey’s 18 mobile sports betting companies, making the tax level among the highest in the country. New York’s sports betting tax rate is 51%, currently leading the competitive market, followed by Pennsylvania’s 36% gross gaming revenue tax.
A handful of states, such as Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, impose a 51% to 50% gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax on operators. However, all of these states operate monopolies through state lotteries.
For online gambling platforms, New Jersey presently has one of the most affordable tax rates, with 30 online gambling websites in operation. A 30% GGR tax would place the state ahead of Connecticut (18% of GGR, increasing to 20% after five years), Michigan (20%), and West Virginia (15%).
Pennsylvania still maintains the highest tax rate at 54% for slot machines, although the tax rate for table games is 16%.
Did Ohio set a trend for increasing taxes?
If New Jersey proceeds with Senator Mcken’s proposal, it will follow Ohio’s example by doubling its tax rate.
Last July, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine raised the tax rate from 10% to 20% in the 2024-25 budget.
DeWine’s relationship with the industry soured shortly after the launch of sports betting, primarily due to advertising. The state’s Casino Control Commission has since acted swiftly to suppress what it considers excessive sports betting marketing.
New Jersey in the Limelight
New Jersey’s gambling industry has been a prominent topic of discussion so far in 2024. In January, Senator Joseph Pennacchio reintroduced a bill to establish racetrack slots and restrict advertising. The bill has been presented numerous times since 2014, but failed to advance beyond the committee stage in 2020 and 2022.
In the latter part of this month, a research project conducted by the National Economic Research Associates, funded by the Fair Play for America campaign, concluded that New Jersey’s digital gambling market had a detrimental effect on the state’s financial standing. The research asserted that its positive tax contributions were counterbalanced by the escalating costs associated with gambling-related harm.
Nevertheless, this research contradicts a 2019 study undertaken by Dr. Alan Meister of iDEA Growth’s Meister Consulting and Gene Johnson of Victor Strategies. That study determined that online casinos alone produced $401 million in employee salaries and 6,552 full-time positions between 2013 and 2018.
The study also revealed that legal online gambling generated $259.3 million in tax income for state and local authorities over that five-year span, including $178.9 million in gambling taxes.
New Jersey’s gambling income reached an all-time peak of $5.78 billion in 2023. Revenue remained elevated in January alone, reaching $559.1 million, a 28.0% increase compared to the same period last year.
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