Lawmakers Propose Banning Gambling Ads Kids Don’t See While Ignoring Ones They Do

There are silly laws.

There are laws that waste time and money.

There are laws that end up having the sum total of zero effect.

New Jersey may be going for the triple play, as lawmakers there (well, here, as I’m sitting in New Jersey) are toying with the idea of banning all gambling ads in or near schools and colleges.

Assembly Bill 5562, which advanced through a panel last week, would force the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to conduct “a study of the effectiveness of using various words and phrases” — as well as font size and other advertising methods — when it comes to promoting responsible gambling. That’s silly enough. But buried deeper in the bill is the provision to ban advertising at and around schools and colleges.

Most of the bill is similar in scope to New York’s rules when it comes to ads concerning responsible gambling and the ban around schools and universities. So it’s clear where New Jersey is getting its ideas.

But from where I’m sitting — as a reporter, a gambler, a parent to teenagers, and an adjunct professor at Rider University — banning ads around schools and universities would be about as pointless an endeavor as I can imagine.

The main reason? Well, a little thing called TikTok. And Instagram. And X. And Facebook. And YouTube. And every other social media site in existence, as well as every other social media site that hasn’t been born yet.

Seriously. This legislation would ban, what? Billboards near colleges for FanDuel? Bus stop placards hyping DraftKings? I cannot think of a bigger waste of time and money. I cannot think of anything sillier. I cannot think of anything that would have less of an effect.

Huh?

My son is 16. He doesn’t know a teaser from a parlay, doesn’t know how to play blackjack, has zero interest in gambling. I asked him if he ever sees gambling ads on his social media feeds.

He said he does. DraftKings and PrizePicks jumped out at him. As did Stake, a “social” casino and sportsbook. He says he sees gambling ads “everywhere” online, and tons of YouTubers promote them. On TikTok, he sees them all the time.

I then asked him if he could name one billboard he’s aware of.

“Huh?” was his response.

I pressed on.

“Do you know what a billboard is?” I asked.

“Like the sign on the road?” he said. “I don’t look at those.”

He also couldn’t tell you one commercial. Same with the kids I teach at college. They don’t watch TV like we do. Or, frankly, like we used to.

For about six months a few years ago, I ran a small experiment. I canceled cable. I had zero access to broadcast television. This was post-football season, right up to the start of the next football season. All we had were streamers.

My wife didn’t notice. My son didn’t notice. My daughters didn’t notice. For over six months, no cable TV, no networks, and not one person in my family inquired about it. Think about that next time you’re toying with the idea of taking out a 30-second spot on CBS’ NCIS: Toledo and Environs.

Of course, we could just ban all gambling advertising, full stop. There’s a bill in New Jersey that’s seeking to do just that. While I’m sure it won’t pass, I’m also sure the United States Supreme Court would take a dim view of a full-scale banning of advertising on a legal product. First Amendment, yo. 

In fact, forget about full bans; let’s just go back to the school bans for a minute.

The U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the whole “advertising near schools” thing in 2001, when Massachusetts lawmakers sought to ban tobacco ads within 1,000 feet of schools. The Supremes were all like, “too broad, you lose.”

Now, would sportsbooks take this to the courts, should this silly law pass in New Jersey? Probably not, mostly because they also know banning gambling advertising near schools would have roughly a 0.00000000001% — and I’m being generous — effect on their bottom line.

Silly, wasteful, zero effect. I’m not sure why this stuff still surprises me, but here we are.