Off-Track betting and telephone account wagering made it a little closer to the finish line Thursday when the New Jersey state Senate passed a measure to allow both forms of wagering.
The plan calls for allowing race track operators to open up to 15 OTB parlors in New Jersey, but no more than eight during the first two years after the bill is signed into law.
The bill also contains a controversial provision allowing only race track operators to open off-track betting parlors or conduct telephone account wagering. It requires that OTB or account wagering operators hold a license to conduct a live racing meet in New Jersey this year.
Before any OTB or account wagering bill can be sent to the governor, however, legislation needs to be passed in the Assembly, which has yet to take up the issue and has recessed for the summer.
The bill, S-1961, is right for the racing industry, in part because "it will help preserve breeding farms, thereby preserving open spaces," said Sen. Richard Codey, a bill sponsor, "and help maintain tens of thousands of [racing industry] jobs."