Players’ Gambling Age in New Jersey: 21 Years or 18 Years The first thing was to set the legal NJ gambling age to 18 years, and this age rate remained until 1983. Now that New Jersey was the second state in the USA with a legal casino, besides Nevada, it was time to enforce strict measures towards the players. The 1970s brought great changes with the creation of the state-run lottery and the construction of the Resorts Atlantic City. During the following decades, gambling was banned only in underground mafia clubs. For example, in the 1800s, many people regularly played raffle-like lottery games, and no one paid attention to the ticket buyer’s age because the funds were used to fund public building projects. The legal gambling age in New Jersey had varied throughout the gambling history of the Garden State.