New Jersey Lawmakers, Regulators Consider Micro Betting Ban Bill

• New Jersey lawmakers heard testimony concerning a bill to prohibit micro betting in the Garden State
• Members of the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts committee held a public hearing on Rep. Dan Hutchinson’s (D-4) bill
• Micro bets are defined as a prop bet which is wagered live that concerns the outcome of the next play or action

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New Jersey lawmakers listened to an hour of testimony from those in favor, and against, an introduced bill to prohibit micro betting in the Garden State.

Members of the Assembly, Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee held a public hearing for Assemblyman Dan Hutchinson’s (D-4) bill, A5971, which will prohibit licensed New Jersey sports betting operators to offer or accept micro bets in the state.

“This is a very, very serious problem. I see it day in and day out,” Hutchinson said. “The Philadelphia media market has become the most heavily advertised media market in the nation for sportsbooks, with companies spending more than $37 million on ads between January and September. It feels impossible to escape. As I watched the Eagles play yesterday, I was shocked to find that gambling ads were baked into the programming itself. What these companies want is for you to bet as frequently, physically, and financially as possible.”

On Edge of Gambling Epidemic

The committee heard testimony for about an hour on the bill. No votes were taken.

According to the proposed legislation, micro bets are defined as prop bets which are wagered live during a sport or athletic event and concerns the outcome of the next play or action occurring in the event.

The legislation sets potential fines for operators that accept, or even offer, micro bets on their platforms. Operators will are found to be offering or accepting micro bets will be found guilty of a disorderly persons offense and shall be fined between $500 and $1,000 per offense. Each micro bet offered or accepted will constitute a separate offense.

Harry Levant, Director of Gambling Policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, and himself a gambling addict, said he is in favor of properly regulated legalization of sports gambling. However, with the advent of micro betting, gambling can now take place every 11 seconds or faster. The human brain, he noted, is not built to handle the product at that type of speed.

“What we have now is the start of a public health crisis. At the epicenter of that crisis is micro betting. This is not the gambling New Jersey thought they were getting when it legalized this in 2018,” he said.

Jean Swain, a problem gambling prevention specialist appearing on behalf of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, commended the bill. She reminded the committee that the council is neither for or against the gambling industry, but is in favor of the legislation to prohibit micro betting.

The proposed legislation recognizes a “critical and timely issue,” as micro betting can increase the risks associated with gambling.

“These high frequency wagers from every player action can trigger instant dopamine releases in the brain’s reward system, fostering compulsive behaviors that can develop into serious addiction. The evidence underscores that micro betting can accelerate the path to problem gambling, especially among vulnerable populations such as youth and others at risk,” she said.

Micro Bets ‘Not a Threat,” According to Industry

Zachary Khan, representing the Sports Betting Alliance, spoke out against the bill, reporting that micro bets are not a threat to the integrity of sports and are actually one of the more effective tools that regulators and operators rely on to thwart event manipulation.

“Micro bets account for a small share of overall wagering, but they generate highly granular, real-time date. Pitch-by-pitch wagers, and other micro props, often provide the earliest indicators of suspicious activity because irregular patterns stand out immediately. Operators report these signals to regulators and sports leagues, which strengthens oversight rather than weakens it. Removing micro bets from the legal market would take away one of the clearest and most responsive systems available to detect unusual betting behavior,” he said.

Khan noted that several major sportsbooks recently agreed to institute a new betting limit for individual MLB pitches in the wake of a sports betting scandal involving two Cleveland Guardians pitchers. Sportsbooks agreed to cap bets on individual pitches at $200 as a way to discourage event manipulation.

This is an active, working compliance regime, Khan said, and not a “laissez-faire” marketplace.

Banning micro bets will not prohibit consumers from placing them, he said, as it will only shift the activity to the illegal, offshore markets.

The Sports Betting Alliance represents the interests of DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics Sportsbook, bet365, and BetMGM. These companies employ nearly 2,000 New Jersey residents and occupy more than 70,000 square-feet of office space across Jersey City, Hoboken, and Atlantic City. The companies represent 89% of the online gaming market in New Jersey and chose to invest in the state due to its strong regulatory environment.

“This framework has encouraged significant economic development, supported thousands of jobs, and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the state. It’s also given New Jersey the ability to protect customers from the pervasive, illegal offshore sports betting markets,” he said.