2025 promises to be another exciting year for combat sports, especially boxing. Betting on boxing and MMA has become incredibly popular in recent years. However, the recent Jake Paul v Mike Tyson bout was a controversial one with some saying the result may have been known beforehand.
As a result of the concerns, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (SACB) has introduced new sports betting policies. This has the aim of protecting not just gamblers but also the integrity of combat sports.
When Mike Tyson came out of retirement to fight Jake Paul, it was a lucrative fight for both of them. Did it actually do the sport of boxing any good though? Tyson barely landed a punch in the bout and at one point, Paul even bowed down to his opponent.
Paul won easily on points and admitted afterwards that he could have won inside the distance but pulled his punches not wanting to hurt Tyson. All very honorable of the social media star turned boxer, but what if you’d placed a bet on him to stop Tyson?
There was a long campaign to make online sports betting legal in the US. Several top sporting bodies were against this taking place. One reason they had for their opposition was the fear that it might affect the integrity of their sports.
Finally in 2018, a US Supreme Court Judge ruled that individual states could have the final say on whether or not to make sports betting legal, particularly online. Over 30 US states have since gone down the legalization route.
This has seen huge amounts of revenue being earned and in New Jersey, November’s total handle was $1.17 billion.with company revenue of $114.8 million. Such high figures are regularly achieved when the NBA, NFL and NHL season are all being played via NJ’s regulated gambling sites. Total revenue for 2024 is anticipated to reach the $1 billion mark.
With talk of Tyson taking on Logan Paul in the future, there are concerns about these kinds of bouts. Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) represent Jake Paul and issued a statement responding to the accusations being made. They insisted that “both fighters in good faith, performed to the best of their abilities with the goal of winning the fight.”
MVP denied that any restrictions had been put in place and “each boxer was able to use his full arsenal to win the fight.”
There’s no such concerns about fights such as the upcoming IBF world heavyweight title match in Saudi Arabia. That sees Daniel Dubois defending his title against Joseph Parker and bookmakers have him a strong favorite to retain his belt.
That massive card in Saudi Arabia on February 22 also features the rematch between Artur Beterbeive and Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed world light-heavyweight titles. Beterbiev is fancied by bookmakers to again beat his biggest rival.
With other big upcoming matches featuring Shakur Stevenson, Geronta Davis and David Benavidez, these are the real bouts that boxing fans and gamblers look forward to betting on and watching. The only concern fans have is the scoring of some matches by judges. They often leave a lot to be desired. Tyson Fury still believes he’s beaten Oleksandr Usyk twice!
Yet matches like Paul v Tyson are also incredibly popular with fans, many who probably don’t watch other boxing bouts. It’s been denied that such matches are pre-determined as is the case with professional wrestling. Sports betting operators in New Jersey did accept bets on the Paul v Tyson bout but not so New York and Pennsylvania.
The new rules being implemented by the SACB prohibit key participants from placing bets on combat sports to “guard against unethical betting behavior” Officials, employees and members will not be able to bet on any combative sports event that is held in New Jersey or anywhere else in the world. Board employees will need to register with the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) if they wish to be able to place bets in New Jersey.
The list of prohibited conduct includes fixing matches and either acting on or spreading insider information. Also included in the new rules is the banning of betting on combative events held in the state by promoters, participants, agents and managers.
Larry Hazzard Sr. is the SACB Commissioner and he says that the new rules are “safeguarding the integrity of combative sports events.” policy. He added that they are “sending a clear message that unethical behavior will not be tolerated in New Jersey’s combative sports industry.”
