TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) - New Jersey voters next month will decide on a constitutional amendment that would allow sports betting in Atlantic City casinos and at race tracks across the state. A new poll shows widespread support for the change although, the referendum is far from the last word on the question.

Results of the latest Rutgers-Eagleton poll were no surprise to director David Redlawsk.

“58-percent of likely voters say they support sports betting, only 31% oppose. Republicans actually support it at a higher rate, 64-percent. 58-percent of Democrats and just over 50-percent of independents.”

The closer voters live to the shore, the more likely they’re behind sports wagering. But the ballot question is more a poll itself than anything else. Betting on pro sports and such won’t happen without either a court decision overturning a federal ban in all but four states, Delaware being one of them, or a change of heart in Congress, which put the ban in place.

Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio