New Jersey Senate Bill To Tax Prediction Markets Tabled Until Fall
Jesse M. Cox Published 13/07/2026
A New Jersey State Senate bill proposing to tax prediction market sites has been tabled until the state legislature resumes in the fall. Senate Bill S4447 would tax prediction market sites at a 9.% rate. The bill, which cleared both the House and Senate budget committees through party-line votes, is designed to draw more revenue for the state.
However, the bill did not clear floor votes in either legislative chamber before state lawmakers broke for their customary summer recess. This legislation also proposes banning prediction market sites from offering trades tied to elections, deaths, and certain disasters to protect state gaming integrity.
This New Jersey bill is set to return in the fall session
Although they couldn't push the bill through before the summer break, New Jersey lawmakers remain confident that they can muster up the necessary votes in the fall to turn it into law.
“We’re planning on looking at that over the summer and into the fall. I think there’s every chance we’ll pass something out. We’ll make sure it’s right,” Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) told the New Jersey Monitor. He is the bill’s primary sponsor in his chamber. Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) is the primary sponsor in his chamber.
Lawmakers originally appeared to be fast-tracking the bill. It was moving through the legislative process at breakneck speed. The hope was that they could get it passed before the state assembly broke for the summer.
However, the rapid progress of the bill suddenly came to a halt when changes to its substance made by Democrats gave Assembly lawmakers pause.
“There was some notion that we might be affecting other things, like the stock market or something like that," Coughlin said. "Clearly that was never the intent."
If passed into law, this bill would go into effect on July 1, 2027.
The proposed changes would bring New Jersey's prediction market tax rates in line with sportsbooks
The original proposal was for a 10% hike in the tax rate on prediction markets in New Jersey. Coupled with the 19.75% tax already imposed on these sites, the additional tax would have brought prediction markets sites in line with New Jersey sports betting sites. Online sportsbooks in the Garden State pay a 29.75% tax rate.
New Jersey union leaders argue that prediction market sites are threats to the state's retail gambling industry. They worry that by taxing them like sportsbooks, New Jersey is giving these sites legitimacy in the marketplace.
“If the state taxes prediction markets, it appears to legitimize them," Donna DeCaprio, president of Unite Here Local 54, said during an appeal to the State Assembly Budget Committee. "Jobs in New Jersey have been lost and will continue to be lost as a result of this.
"We understand the sponsors are trying to level the playing field and generate tax revenue, but prediction markets are an existential threat to our jobs. This bill is not the solution.”
Prediction market sites caution that this change could lead to legal action
Representatives of prediction market sites were also cautioning New Jersey lawmakers of the trouble that would be ahead if they continue to move forward with this bill.
“Polymarket operates as a CFTC-regulated designated contract market under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commodity Exchange Act, and state-level efforts to regulate prediction markets will likely face significant federal preemption challenges,” Olivia Chalos, Polymarket’s deputy chief legal officer, said in a statement.