Journalists Wandering Eyes Posted June 8, 2018 Journalists Share Posted June 8, 2018 The start-up date for sports betting at Monmouth Park has been pushed back again as New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has yet to sign a bill that set forth the rules regulations that need to be put in place before the new form of wagering can go forward. Monmouth had originally hoped to open up its sports book on Memorial Day and later set Friday as its goal for opening day. That date looked feasible after the state’s legislature passed the bill Thursday, meaning all it needed was Murphy’s signature. Since Murphy has always been a proponent of sports betting in the state, it is not clear why he won’t give Monmouth the green light. He has said that he would like a chance to review the legislation. “We’re not going to sit on it, but we just got it,” Murphy said during a press conference Friday. “We’re going to have sports betting sooner (rather) than later in New Jersey and I’m really excited about that. I’m not going to change my stripes just because it’s a big weekend. We’ve got to make sure we do what we do right.” But Murphy’s delay has cost Monmouth what likely would have been a huge opening weekend for sports betting. Game 4 of the NBA finals was to be played Friday night, the Mets and Yankees square off over the weekend in baseball and the Belmont Stakes means there will be a huge crowd Saturday at Monmouth. “I’m trying to get open as soon as I can,” Dennis Drazin, who heads the Monmouth management team told the Asbury Park Press. “But at the end of the day I have a responsibility to Monmouth Park and the state and the local community. If I do something that causes Monmouth Park to get delayed in opening, then that doesn’t help anybody, so I have to respect the process.” With the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which leases Monmouth, among the groups that led the fight to strike down laws that made sports betting illegal outside of Nevada, Monmouth was the odds-on favorite to become the first U.S. racetrack to open a legal sports book. Instead, Delaware’s three racetracks–Delaware Park and the harness tracks Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway–had their sports wagering operations up and running on Tuesday. It remains unclear when Murphy will act. He has 45 days to either sign or veto the bill. View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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