New Jersey Bill Would Strip Bonuses From Responsible Gambling Tool Users

^{Using responsible gambling resources like the ones shown here could cost New Jersey sports bettors their bonus eligibility under a newly proposed state bill. (Photo: Jerome Cid / Alamy)}

A bill currently under consideration in the New Jersey legislature would ban sportsbooks in the state from offering bonuses to users who sign up for responsible gambling tools offered by the state or individual operators.

The bill, known as Assembly Bill 4003, was introduced by Assemblymen Dan Hutchison (D-4th District), Cody Miller (D-4th District), and Michael Venezia (D-34th District). It passed unanimously out of the Assembly’s Tourism, Gaming, and the Arts Committee by a 5-0 vote on May 7, with two members abstaining. 

Players Who Set Limits Locked Out of Bonuses

The bill's premise is straightforward. Operators would no longer be allowed to offer bonuses or other promotional incentives to bettors who had signed up for self-exclusion lists or who had used responsible gambling tools such as deposit limits, betting limits, or cooling-off periods.

Under the bill, operators would face a minimum fine of $500 per violation of the bonus regulations.

The proposal comes at a time when legislators across the United States are considering measures to rein in the sports betting industry and emphasize responsible gambling.

The New Jersey Senate also has a companion bill, Senate Bill 3420, sponsored by Sen. Paul Moriarty (D-4th District). That bill has been referred to the State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee, but has yet to receive a vote.

Bill May Push Players Away from Responsible Gaming

But could the New Jersey bill have the opposite impact? While measures to prevent those on self-exclusion lists from being tempted back to online gambling sites make sense to many, the provisions related to responsible gambling tools have raised concerns that gamblers will stop using those resources in order to maintain their access to bonus offers.

Campaign for Fairer Gambling Deputy Director Jessica Welman publicized her concerns in a post on X:

“There is a really frustrating bill making progress in NJ that wants to ban any inducements for customers utilizing [responsible gambling] tools,” Welman wrote. “While well-intentioned, there is a difference between [responsible gambling] and [problem gambling], and all this does is discourage behavior we should encourage every bettor to embrace.”

This isn’t the only bill Hutchison and his colleagues have introduced regarding the sports betting industry in New Jersey.

In February, Hutchison, Miller, and Venezia sponsored Assembly Bill 4002, which would require sportsbooks to publish rules related to limiting bettors and to notify users if their accounts were being limited for any reason. And in November 2025, Hutchison and Miller were among a group of legislators who sponsored Assembly Bill 5971, which would prohibit sportsbooks from offering “micro bets” that target outcomes such as the next pitch in a baseball game.