For years New Jersey was synonymous with gambling. Between Atlantic City being Vegas’ only real counterpart and Tony Soprano breaking kneecaps on your TV screens, New Jersey came across as a bunch of degenerates. It couldn’t have looked great from the outside looking in. But whatever your assumed notion of NJ gambling was, it was much worse.
People from New Jersey started gambling pretty much around the time of the country’s inception. The lottery system in New Jersey actually helped fund the military for the American Revolution and French-Indian War. Monmouth Racetrack in Oceanport has been running ponies since the 1830s, about 34 years before Nevada was even a state.
But you can’t mention New Jersey gambling without Atlantic City. It’s a piece of shit, but it’s our piece of shit. It wasn’t always that way though. If you’ve seen Boardwalk Empire, you know what I’m talking about. Politician and racketeer Knucky Johnson, who the HBO series is based on, took AC into a Golden Age during the Prohibition. While shaking hands with the likes of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and Meyers Lansky, Knucky was able to build Atlantic City from the ground up on the back of booze and gambling. It got the nickname “The World’s Playground” and over a century later the city still abides by Knucky’s blueprint. This past June, Atlantic City casinos set the record for single month gambling revenue with over $345 million in winnings.
But gambling in New Jersey was never mutually exclusive with Atlantic City and racetracks. Although there is a dark underbelly, a lot of it was out in the open. Your bookie was normally one of your bartenders. I used to walk into our local breakfast joint with my dad as a kid and the old men smoking cigars in the back would ask me to help them pick their NFL Pools that were splayed out over Sunday’s newspaper. Or like my uncle screaming at the TV at family BBQs during the Little League WS telling me he has “too much action” on this game. Or how my parents used to work a mandatory two nights a month in our Catholic School cafeteria for Bingo Night; they would come home reeking of cigarettes. It was so ingratiated with our every day life, that I never knew anything was wrong with it.
Of course, things could go wrong with gambling. Literally today, no lie, I caught my my friend’s mom about six miles from her house at a convenient store going to town on scratch-offs in her car. She had to pass maybe twenty closer stores to get to this one. But she runs less a risk of one of her family members catching her over here. With any vice that’s a lot of fun, it’s best done in moderation. Growing up in New Jersey, your parents had plenty of examples to point to so you don’t end up as this person or that person. Unfortunately, most of us have a trial by fire moment that forces us to bet smarter.
I remember mine. I used to meet with a guy in the back of a Wawa parking lot for weekly deposits or withdraws. When I was a freshman in college, so 18 or 19, I went on a heater. I got too cocky and was spending my winnings like a mad man. Couple weeks later I went down and went down big. I was a barback at the time and couldn’t cover my debt. I’d never been late or short on a payment but I wasn’t ecstatic about finding out what happens when you are. I was panicking, I could only cover about half of what I owed. I remember looking up sperm bank appointements on the sideline of McMahon Park during our summer basketball league game. I wouldn’t have been paid in time for my jizz to work in my favor. I did the only thing a grown man could do, I ran to my daddy. I thought he was going to kill me. I walked into his room real serious-like and admitted everything, pleading and apologizing harder than I ever had. I winced and waited for a blowup or a smack or something. He looked me dead in my eye and said, “Is someone going to show up to our house and how much do you need.” He gave me $1100, $100 more than I needed. Then we sat down for about an hour and had a conversation about biting off more than you can chew, and what would have happened if goons showed up with only my mother home. His concern and disappointment that day made me a smarter gambler. I also took ally first hiatus after that.
But everyone in this area has some sort of varitation of that story. Not all of them came out as unscathed as I was. It’s part of the fabric. You think New Jersey eclipsed Nevada last year in sports gambling with $6B on accident? We were baptized in this shit.
So I’m very happy to welcome the next chapter of New Jersey gambling, Barstool Sportsbook. We’ve been waiting for you.
Gamble responsibly, if you have a gambling problem please call 1-800-GAMBLER.
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