New Jersey Assemblyman Calabrese Reverses Course, Moves to Ban Sweepstakes Casinos

New Jersey Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese has introduced a bill that looks to prohibit online sweepstakes casinos, just weeks after he filed a bill that aimed to regulate them.

Assembly Bill 5447 would prohibit online sweepstakes casinos from operating in New Jersey. Calabrese’s legislation would also establish new penalties for unlawful gambling operations and practices. Enforcement responsibility would lie with the Division of Consumer Affairs, and the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

The Future of Sweepstakes and Crypto Gambling in New Jersey

Previously, Calabrese filed Assembly Bill 5196, which sought to align sweepstakes with other New Jersey iGaming products.

While his latest bill is yet to be padded out with significant detail, Calabrese provided a definition of a sweepstakes casino in AB5196:

“Online sweepstakes casino’ means any platform available via an Internet website or mobile application that (1) provides participants with an opportunity to play authorized gambling games or provides an experience equivalent to, or with similar statistical odds of winning as an authorized gambling game, except that the game does not require any initial monetary investment on behalf of the participants to play and instead is played primarily with free currency; and (2) awards to participants at random, as a bundle with the purchase of free currency, or upon the completion of certain specified tasks, currency or promotional gaming credits which can be wagered on games and are redeemable for cash, prizes, or other things of value.”

Although Calabrese did not explicitly mention cryptocurrency casino, he included the following wording: “An online sweepstakes casino may additionally offer tokens, coins, chips, credits, or other forms of currency for purchase or exchange that are directly redeemable for cash, prizes, or other things of value.”

This clearly would capture digital currencies under “other forms of currency” and therefore, while advocates for cryptocurrency iGaming would previously have been optimistic, Calabrese’s U-Turn could be detrimental to crypto legalization efforts. forms of currency for purchase or exchange that are directly redeemable for cash, prizes, or other things of value,” according to A5196.

New Bill Seeks to Prohibit Sportsbook Ads on College Campuses

The New Jersey Assembly has also approved a bill that would prohibit sportsbook operators from forming partnerships with college sports programs to provide direct marketing and advertising. This is yet another blow to the potential rollout of crypto sports betting.

Assembly Bill 4113 is a carry-over bill from 2024’s legislature. After a unanimous vote from lawmakers, it heads to the Senate Higher Education Committee. It now has to pass a floor vote in the Senate and be signed by the Governor of New Jersey.

Under the bill’s amendments, it defines direct advertising and marketing as “marketing at on-campus locations and off-campus locations associated with the institution, and any electronic advertising or marketing explicitly directed to students enrolled in the institution.”