New Jersey eyes stiffer penalties for prohibited sports bets

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey lawmakers want to increase the penalties on casinos and sports books that take bets on prohibited events including games involving college teams from New Jersey.

A bill that cleared an Assembly panel Thursday would impose fines at least 10 times higher than one handed out last year for prohibited bets on college football teams from New Jersey.

It calls for fines of $20,000 to $100,000 for violations of the law. They also would have to pay an additional fine equal to the total amount of prohibited bets they accepted and could have their sports betting license suspended for 10 days.

The Golden Nugget and Caesars Entertainment were penalized last fall for taking such bets, with Caesars fined $2,000 and Golden Nugget forfeiting $390 in bets that it took.