[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We are pleased to be joined once again by State Senator John McKeon, Vice Chair of the State Senate Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee Senator, great to have you with us.

- Great to be here, Steve, it's good to see you as well.

- You got it.

Let's talk about sports betting.

What are your greatest concerns about legalized sports betting, and what are you doing to try to deal with the negative impact of some aspects of sports betting?

- Well, Steve, on one level, we were a pioneer, right?

New Jersey was the first state in 2018 to legalize that type of betting, but now we have a track record with those number of years behind us to know what the fallout is.

And the fallout is, as a Rutgers study, almost 200,000 New Jerseyans being problem gamblers.

Now, that becomes all of our problem.

- Okay, so what the heck is the role of state government to not just regulate the industry, but to potentially, Senator, protect some of us who engage in legalized sports betting from ourselves?

- We got to start with kids, right?

Because gambling has a dopamine rush, and the younger you are, the more addictive it becomes.

So, we know that a great percentage of kids, before they're 18, will already admit, go into a high school class and say, "Have you ever made a bet?"

And no one's 18, and they'll all raise their hands if they're telling the truth.

In colleges, the number 63% of college students will tell you that they've bet.

So, first thing we need to do is to protect the young folks who are going to be more susceptible.

All the numbers we see on the gambling hotline, 277% increase between the ages of 18 to 32.

So, this is a real issue that's being imbued in our young, and we really, really need to get ahead of this.

- But Senator, how do you, quote, unquote, protect young people from the ills, if you will, or the dangers of legalized sports betting?

- Well, yeah, I mean- - How do you protect them?

- Sure, sure, so you start off from a perspective of advertising, right?

You remember the Joe Camel days where we can both picture Joe DiMaggio world, we're not that old, but sports heroes with a cigarette coming out of their mouth and they never smoked a day in their life.

Same kind of thing.

We have a piece of legislation (indistinct) committee that will study how and where the gaming houses can advertise to start with.

We also got to go with nomenclature, Steve.

They use the word gaming.

That seems like fun, right?

As opposed to gambling.

The catchphrase they have, it doesn't work.

There's studies in London saying you need to say things like, "Gambling can mess up your life," so it kind of maybe registers with some people.

So, there's a lot we could do in our messaging to protect those from having that legion of 200,000 people grow even larger.

- Senator, there's got to be a website for people who are struggling with gambling issues, correct?

- There's a Gamblers Anonymous that the state partially supplements that people often reference.

- What the heck is a self-exclusion list?

- Well, we'll think of it like a do not fly list.

So, if you know, Steve, that you keep gambling and you can't stop yourself, you're going to say, "Hey, casino, don't let me in anymore."

That's been around for a long time.

The problem with it is that there's no enforcement, meaning you can take yourself off that list in the same way you put yourself on.

So, for someone that has that kind of compulsion, unless they're the most extraordinarily strong person, they're not going to be able to help themselves.

Here's the real kicker.

What they'll do is they'll have a gambling consigliere, or whatever the name they use.

If they haven't heard from Steve Adubato who is a heavy better that hasn't bet for a week, hello, how about $1,000 we're going to stake you?

Okay, let me take myself off the list and go, so... - Because you're gonna give me $1,000 to start with.

- That's exactly it.

- And then what happens, John?

- Well, now, you're going to burn through that 1,000 and you're back in the game.

So, self-exclusion, it's great in theory, but in practice, it doesn't really work.

We need to strengthen that.

At a minimum, legislation is now out of committee.

There should be at least educational videos or otherwise that you have to go through before you take yourself off.

What I think is really important is to allow third parties to exclude a loved one.

A loved one meaning somebody like a parent who might be financially responsible, a spouse, a child who's not getting child support, to allow a third party to step in and say with a hearing that this individual shouldn't gamble and here's why.

It's a lot like the red flag laws with the guns, and it's working.

- Quick follow-up on this.

I called it prop betting.

Prop betting is betting within a game how many passes will be thrown by a New York Giant quarterback or by a Knicks.

Again, we're taping this after Knicks won the NBA Championship, but how many points Jalen Brunson will score.

A prop bet is a bet inside the game, not just on the outcome of the game with the odds being what they are or whatever it is that the point spread.

But, what the heck is microbetting?

- Well, Steve, it really just gets into sitting in real time and betting on whether or not Jalen Brunson's gonna make a foul shot or not.

A lot of times, in these games where that point of the game, the foul shots don't matter.

You'll hear people either cheer or boo based upon a player making or missing a foul shot.

- John, sorry for interrupting, Senator.

How do I do that in real... I don't want to educate people on this, but the reality is technology is a big part of this.

Is this phone and the ability to use the phone to bet on Jalen Brunson making or missing that foul shot, that could not have happened without this technology, right?

- No, of course not.

You sit there, whether it's at the arena or in front of your TV, and it's just so ridiculously convenient and almost surreal as to the psychology of that.

Steve, think about this.

There was $7 billion, in New Jersey alone, of gambling revenues just in 2025.

The profit is a record-high 1.2, almost $2 billion of profit, and it's all because of these machines, which you have for 24/7.

It's a distraction from reality.

It doesn't feel like you're spending money.

There's no social cues, like if you were sitting in a casino and someone could say, "Hey, you've had enough.

Why don't you get out of here and get some sleep?"

Nothing like that at all.

- Hey, follow up on this real quick.

You talk about addiction.

I remember years ago, before gambling was legalized, I did a series of interviews about gambling addictions.

And then I realized that one of the pushes for legalizing sports gambling/gaming is that the state, the government, is addicted to the revenue.

- Well, we did change... New Jersey has one of the lowest tax rates in the entire nation, and I get it.

In part, that's because we co-op with the brick-and-mortar Atlantic City.

That's what's keeping those 26,000 jobs in place or else they- - Down in Atlantic City.

- Yeah, that they probably close.

So, our rate is 19%, we just changed it to.

Compared to New York where it's 50%, Pennsylvania where it's 30, it's actually low in our state.

But you're right.

At the end of the day, we get used to that revenue.

And I'm not suggesting, look, it's 37 states.

The genie is out of the bottle.

I'm not suggesting that we're going to stop gaming, but now we've got a track record of knowing the kind of social ills it brings, and it's our responsibility to step in and do something about it.

Steve, you want to talk about it?

It's a DSM addiction, compulsive gambling.

The number on DSM addiction, not schizophrenia, not bipolar as it relates to suicide, is compulsive gambling.

- Gambling.

Senator John McKeon on the gambling, the legalized gambling issue.

You heard another side before this.

Not another side, a different perspective.

And now, you hear the senator who's the leading legislator dealing with these issues.

Senator, as always, thank you for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- It's a pleasure.

Continued success, Steve.

- Thanks, same to you.

I'm Steve Adubato.

That's the Senator, Senator John McKeon.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Fund for New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

IBEW Local 102.

Operating Engineers, Local 825.

Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

United Airlines.

Rowan University.

And by RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn More at RWJBH.org.

Promotional support provided by The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey.

And by NJBIZ.

- NJM Insurance Group has been serving New Jersey businesses for over a century.

As part of the Garden State, we help companies keep their vehicles on the road, employees on the job and projects on track, working to protect employees from illness and injury, to keep goods and services moving across the state.

We're proud to be part of New Jersey.

NJM, we've got New Jersey covered.