A US gambling regulatory crisis has been averted, with New Jersey’s igaming regulations being extended five years until November 2028.

Initially perceived as a mere formality, the prospect of extending New Jersey’s online casino market became an alarming situation for the one of the oldest iGaming market in the United States.

State lawmakers opposed a 10-year extension, causing an initial scare. However, those fears have now been alleviated, as Governor Phil Murphy officially signs A2190 into law, extending New Jersey’s online casino regulations until November 2028.

Although the extension is for a period of five years instead of the anticipated ten-year agreement, it is a considerably more favorable outcome than what was initially expected. Initially, the Assembly Budget Committee only intended to extend the laws for a meager two years with little, to no explanation of the motivation behind such a curtailing.

Whenever there’s a delay of note in the United States legislature, it’s because politics has once again proved an obstacle. While the Assembly Budget Committee led with a two year extension, the Senate Appropriations Committee had already passed an identical bill that would have seen a ten-year extension.

Despite murmurs of discontent amongst industry that the 10-year extension was not ratified, the 76-2 vote in favor of the five-year extension and subsequent signature of Governor Murphy means New Jersey’s burgeoning online casino space is not going anywhere until at least November 2028.

Combined iGaming across the regulated states in igaming reached a record high in 2022, hitting $5.02 billion. New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania accounted for greater than 88 percent of the nationwide total, and top five globally. Annual revenue was recorded at $1.66 billion for NJ, with Michigan and PA recording $1.38 billion and $1.36 billion respectively.

There has been extremely limited development in iGaming legislation over 2022 legislature – with key states such as TX online gaming and FL online gaming failing to materialize. Rhode Island signed iGaming into law, but it will launch with a Bally’s only monopoly and with a very small total addressable market.