The New Jersey State legislature introduced a new bill which bans betting on professional esports games. The new ban is the latest threat to the burgeoning soon-to-be billion dollar e-sports industry. The bill says that it allows wagering in casinos and racetracks but it characterizes all “high school sports events, electronic sports and competitive videogames” as “prohibited sports events” under their law.

One exception to this law is that the ban does not include international sports events in which underage people make up the minority of participants. This means that while you could legally place a bet on the outcome of a Dota 2 match taking place outside of the United States, you cannot do the same on a local CS: GO match in Texas.

As is usually the case with such laws, there is always room for interpretation due to the ambiguous nature of the wording. The specifics of ‘international’ aren’t clearly defined and depending on how one interprets the term “sports events”, it could also include esports and pro gaming events as well.

Each state has different rules governing the international esports scenes and aren’t consistent with each other. Perhaps this disruptive regulatory framework for competitive video game gambling is a good thing for the esports industry, or perhaps it could spell its doom if the lawmakers decide to place an outright ban specifically covering the esports scene.

Speaking about the law, Rahul Sood, founder of VoodooPC says that it’s a mistake. “Casinos are missing out on a massive opportunity to engage their future customers right now. No amount of slot machine is going to change this. Our customers laugh at the slot machine! They simply aren’t interested.”

The bill has been sponsored by Eric Houghtaling, Joann Downey, Raj Mukherji, John Burzichelli and Ralph Caputo who pushed for this in a New Jersey assembly on June 4. It is clear that these people have absolutely no idea what the video game industry entails. An esports lawyer Bryce Blum said on Twitter, “This is an obvious problem with people regulating something that they don’t understand.”

On the flipside, the language of the bill is so vague that is can allow some wiggle room to esports betting operators. As an example, Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch League has a condition that all international esports team must have participants that are over the age of 18. The League of Legends Championship Series states in their rulebook that all competitors must be at least 17.

An esports attorney, Daniel Wallach, believes that esports betting could actually happen (locally) on a “case by case basis. Existing licensed betting operators can file for requests from regulators to accept wagers on esports competitions.”

The Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018, which prohibited several states from gambling within their respective jurisdictions. While this move was considered a victory for the esports industry in the United States, this New Jersey law threatens it very much the same. In order to become law, the passed legislature simply needs Governor Phil Murphy’s stamp of approval.