You can’t bet on Jersey City’s Saint Peter’s in New Jersey. It’s the law

When is a losing bet not necessarily a losing bet? It’s complicated, but naturally Saint Peter’s is involved. They’ve turned everything else in this tournament upside down, why not sports betting?

There is a constitutional restriction in New Jersey prohibiting wagers on colleges located within the state or college games played in Jersey. It’s come up a few times since sports betting opened up in 2018, but it’s usually been more of an annoyance rather than something chaotic.

In 2019, Seton Hall reached the Big East tournament championship game. Rutgers plays Penn State, Michigan,and Ohio State almost annually in football. But there were a hundred other games to wager on, so the restriction barely resonated.

It was worked into the state’s sports-betting law more than 10 years ago to make it more palatable for politicians -- and voters -- to support. Sports betting was in the dark ages then. Nevada controlled everything, and anybody who bet must have hung out at the Bada Bing! with Tony Soprano.

On Sunday, Saint Peter’s will play North Carolina in the East Region final. A 15th seed has never gotten this far. The game will be shown all over New Jersey. At the sportsbooks, it will be for entertainment only. Wanna wager legally? Go to Pennsylvania or New York. Or go back to your pre-2018 method.

A voter referendum is needed to eliminate the restriction. Pennsylvania has no such restriction, but New York does for New York schools and Illinois the same for their locals. It was on the ballot in November, but any attempted support was feeble at best.

“They didn’t do themselves any favors with the wording of the referendum last year,” said Jack Andrews, a professional sports bettor and industry analyst. “They need the sportsbooks -- or at least the American Gaming Association -- to come in and help craft the wording. The books didn’t lift a finger this last time around.”

Andrews, a co-founder of Unabated.com, which seeks to educate novice bettors, pointed out that New Jersey better get this fixed by the time the East Regionals are held in Newark in 2025.

While New Jersey books could not allow bettors to wager on Saint Peter’s to win the East, they did offer action on the other teams to win the region.

Baylor was +200, UCLA was +450, etc. Most N.J. sportsbooks will now pay up for North Carolina, since the Tar Heels will be the region’s highest finisher aside from Saint Peter’s. But others, such as FanDuel, will void everybody’s wager if Saint Peter’s wins and issue refunds all around. Again, just in New Jersey.

So if you had a ticket to win the region on Baylor or UCLA -- or even Kentucky or Purdue, which lost to Saint Peter’s -- hold onto them.

Think this is mayhem, just imagine if St. Pete wins the national championship.

Borgata sportsbook director Tom Gable is among those who will pay out North Carolina wagers. With nationwide sports betting still in its relative infancy, he is forever telling customers to check the house rules no matter where they play. Never know where the next Cinderella is going to come from.

“I always said that it would take Seton Hall getting to the Final Four to get this corrected,” he cracked. “I just had the wrong team.”

2:20 p.m./CBS - No. 1 seed Kansas (-6) vs. No. 10 seed Miami (o/u: 147)

Midwest Region final/At Chicago

Kansas is one step away from the Final Four despite a rough shooting slump from first-team All-America Ochai Agbaji. He’s 16-for-46 from the field in his last four games (34.8%), and had a season-low five points on Friday. Miami’s only loss this month was by four to Duke in the ACC Championship. Pick: Spread is about three points too high. Miami +7.

4:50 p.m. approx./CBS No. 8 seed North Carolina (-8) vs. No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s (o/u: 137)

Can’t take Saint Peter’s in New Jersey, but can in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Pick: Saint Peter’s getting 8.

Tournament record entering Saturday: 15-9 (62.5%). Went 2-1 on Friday, losing on Providence over 67.5 points (they had 61), and hitting Saint Peter’s +12.5 and under Miami-Iowa State 133.5 (’Canes won, 70-56).