The Division of Gaming for the state of New Jersey has recently fined sportsbook BetStars for allowing bets to be placed on games involving collegiate sport teams from the state. While sports betting is legalized in New Jersey and the state is the sports gambling headquarters of the East coast, one thing the state doesn’t allow is betting on New Jersey collegiate games.
The New Jersey sportsbook in question, BetStars, was reported for games involving the teams of Monmouth and Rutgers, universities located within New Jersey. On 11/19 of 2018, BetStars allowed bets to be placed on a game that was played between Rutgers and Eastern Michigan. They accepted more than 200 bets that amounted to more than $2,000 in wagers.
Another incident occurred on 12/31 of 2018, during which they accepted just one bet on a match between Monmouth and Pennsylvania. Although it was just a single bet, no bets are allowed on any games involving Monmouth or any other New Jersey collegiate teams like Rutgers.
The company that owns BetStars, The Stars Group, released a statement in which they indicated that the bets were allowed because of a “manual gating error” that caused the malfunction. This means that the bets were placed because of a mistake, rather than being permitted intentionally.
Integrity is Great for Sports Betting
While instances like bets allowed by BetStars may initially look bad for sports betting, the response and commitment to integrous gambling by the state is a great look for sports betting as a whole. This is not the first time New Jersey has put their foot down on illegal sports betting activity. Both Caesars and Golden Nugget incurred minor fines through the year for prohibited bets placed throughout the year, although those were likely because of a mistake as well.
The Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association (SWIMA) also launched this week, a group with the sole intention of ensuring only fair gaming is taking place. Even though sports betting was mostly illegal up until recently, wagers were still being made on games.
It is important that authorities monitor these activities still now to ensure that sports betting retains a positive image. Because there are now ample opportunities to legally place sports bets, there shouldn’t ever be illegal sports bets placed.
With states like New Jersey taking the stance of a zero-tolerance policy and issuing fines even in accidental circumstances and groups like SWIMA launching, sports betting is in the best shape it has been in years.
