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New Jersey Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Sports Betting

Posted on February 23rd, 2011

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“With increasing competition for profits and tax revenue, it seems the expansion of legal gambling is inevitable,” Peter Woolley, director of the Farleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll remarked on Monday, immediately after results were made public on a survey that overwhelmingly show New Jersey citizens supporting the legalization of betting on sports including in professional leagues such as football and basketball. “… but public opinion has historically lagged behind what casino operators and tax collectors want to do,” added Woolley, implying that what citizens only now believe has already been a long-time clamor by proponents of gambling-sourced state funding.

An in-depth look of the survey results reveals interesting developments in public opinion which, as early as a year ago, were not the case. On the question whether or not citizens will support amending the federal law that bans betting on sports in New Jersey and every other state in the United States, 53% of respondents agreed to changing the law. A year ago, only 45% of respondents agreed to the same question, and national numbers are even lower at 39% based on a 2010 survey. As to the avenues with which betting can be done, an overwhelming 62% of New Jersey respondents favored betting within the confines of casinos and horse tracks. The demographic skews highly in favor of men; 70% of male respondents agree to casino and track betting while only 55% of women respondents subscribe to the idea. Political affiliations do not seem to impact voter preference as Democrats, Republicans and Independents agreed in equal margins.

The underlying reason for the shift in social opinion seems to be the fact that people bet on sports anyway “so the government might as well allow it so it can be taxed.” 55% of respondents agreed with this assessment showing an increase of 9 percentage points from last year’s survey. Contrast that to 37% who think betting is “a bad idea because it promotes too much gambling and can corrupt sports” which has seen a 10% decline in respondent support. There is also a strong correlation between people who favor sports betting and those who are already involved in office pools. 70% of respondents say they will do it anyway, “so tax it.” People who are not involved in office pools still favor legalizing sports betting but to a lesser extent with only 50% agreeing to the proposal and 42% of respondents opposing it.

On the question of allowing bets over the internet, 67% say this is not a good idea while only 26% favor it. Both men, women, Democrats, Republicans and Independents are unanimous in their belief to limit sports betting through casinos and race-tracks only. Even those who have been to a casino over the last 12 months still favor live betting on the casino floor on at the tracks over Internet betting. The same margins as with previously survey demographics carried over to this segment of respondents with 65% opposing internet betting and only 29% agreeing. The same results are repeated when people who participate in office pools were asked the same question. “People suspect that the Internet makes the barrier for participation in gambling too low,” Woolley said, “maybe a little like having a liquor store right at everyone’s door.”

An interesting caveat from the survey is in pollsters believing that renaming the enterprise from “gambling” to “gaming” will serve to convince more people of its cleaner purpose rather than as a quick means to earn a buck. Survey administrators pooled the data from 801 total respondents chosen by a computer algorithm. All interviews were done through landline or cell phone calls and between the period of February 7 to February 13. Statistically, the survey assured an accuracy rate of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points which is common for surveys of this nature. Of course, the opinion of people from one state does not necessarily change the federal government’s stance towards different issues such as sports betting. There continues to be a solid resistance to the idea of sports betting and even the professional leagues themselves take it seriously to police any player or personnel involvement in sports betting.