New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed a bill which allows the Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget casino to accept bets on most National Basketball Association (NBA) games.
Tilman Fertitta, a billionaire from Texas, is the owner Golden Nugget casino. He also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets team. When New Jersey lawmakers legalised sports betting last year, a provision in the law banned team owners from placing or accepting bets on any games involving their sport.
“We’re grateful, and appreciative that people eventually realized this was an overreaction. It allows us to compete,” Steve Scheinthal, general counsel for the Golden Nugget’s parent company, Houston-based Landry’s Inc., said.
The ban on all NBA bets cut badly into the Golden Nugget’s New Jersey sports betting business. A gambler wanting to place bets on football at the Golden Nugget had to go somewhere else to bet on basketball, making it much less likely he or she would visit the Golden Nugget at all for sports betting.
“It was like going into a boxing ring with one arm tied behind your back. You just can’t compete that way. It gave everyone a year’s head start on us,” Scheinthal said.
