New Jersey Rep. Michael Venezia introduced on Monday a bill that would tax sportsbook operators in the state an additional 10% for bets placed on World Cup games between June 12-July 20. New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, will play host to eight games, including the World Cup final.
HB 4838 also includes language to impose additional taxes on lodging, food-and-beverage, transportation, entry to “places of amusement,” and the purchase of “tangible personal property,” such as trinkets or gifts.
Per the text of the proposal, Venezia is proposing the bill to help offset costs incurred by the state related to hosting the games.
Should the bill pass, it would be the first of its kind with relation to gambling, as no other U.S. jurisdiction has temporarily raised its betting tax around a special event. But many states, including New Jersey, have raised wagering taxes since launching legal betting. In New Jersey, online sportsbooks went live in August 2018 with a 13% tax. Lawmakers upped that to 19.75% last year, and the new rate went into effect July 1, 2025.
The newly proposed temporary increase would be only on bets on World Cup events and would bring the total tax for revenue on those bets to 29.75% for the five-week period.
NJ could collect an extra $2+ million
It’s not clear how much U.S. sportsbook operators stand to make off the World Cup — the last one held in the U.S. was in 1994, and legal online sports betting didn’t exist. In 2022, the American Gaming Association projected that $1.8 billion would be wagered by American adults on the Qatar World Cup. For 2026, Vegas Insider projects that number could jump to $3 billion.
As one of the three biggest sports betting states by volume, New Jersey accounts for about 8% of total national betting. Using the $3 billion projection, the state would account for about $240 million in handle. How much it would net in taxes would depend on hold. For example, a 10% hold would yield $24 million in taxable revenue on World Cup bets in that scenario, and increasing the tax rate by 10% would bring the state an extra $2.4 million.
In addition to the proposed temporary tax on wagering, Venezia’s bill includes an additional 2.5% tax on lodging; an additional 3% tax on food-and-beverage, entry to “places of amusement,” and the purchase of “tangible personal property”; and a 50-cent-per-rider tax on transportation companies on “prearranged rides” from the Meadowlands District to other points in the state.
