New Jersey’s Monmouth Park sportsbook eyes May 28 launch

New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack says it plans to offer legal sports betting before the end of the month, while a key state legislator says his new betting bill won’t be approved until the end of June.

On Tuesday, Dennis Drazin, CEO of the company that operates the Monmouth Park track, told local media that the track’s William Hill-powered sportsbook aimed to take its first legal sports wager on Monday, May 28, aka the Memorial Day holiday.

The Asbury Park Press quoted Drazin saying the May 28 date was arrived at following an internal discussion, as well as talks with partner William Hill US, in the wake of Monday’s historic Supreme Court ruling striking down the 1992 federal sports betting prohibition.

Drazin said he’d have preferred to launch the sportsbook before the Memorial Day weekend kicks off, “but with all the logistics of getting everyone trained, that is the date we are targeting now.” The timing would be fortuitous, given the NBA finals are scheduled to get underway on May 31.