Christie Vetoes Online Gambling Bill

March 04, 2011 | News Category: Gaming Law

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New Jersey and the online gambling community in the United States have been waiting for Governor Chris Christie to either veto or sign the New Jersey intrastate online gambling bill. The verdict is in, and Governor Christie vetoed the bill.

At first, it seemed as if the veto would be a conditional veto, but within hours, it became clear that the veto was an absolute veto. A conditional veto would have meant that the bill could have returned to the State Assembly, been amended, and then returned to the governor. However, this was not the case, and Christie made it clear to the Legislature why he did not accept the online gambling bill.

To begin with, Christie explained why he felt the online gambling bill does not follow the State Constitution. He noted: "The State Constitution explicitly requires casino gambling to be restricted to the territorial limits of Atlantic City. Senate Bill No. 490 seeks to avoid this requirement by deeming all Internet wagers as being placed in Atlantic City, even if the person placing the bet is outside the boundaries of the city. In my view, the creation of a legal fiction deeming all wagers to have 'originated' in Atlantic City cannot overcome the clear and unambiguous language of the State Constitution."

Senator Raymond Lesniak, the sponsor of the New Jersey online gambling bill, had already said earlier this year that if the governor chose to veto the online gambling bill, that he would not try to override the decision.

Joe Brennan, the chairman of iMEGA, the Interactive Media & Gaming Association, said: "At the beginning of the day, Senator Lesniak thought he had an understanding on what changes (the governor) wanted to see if there was a conditional veto."

Later in the day, Brennan noted that the veto was definitely a full veto. It is likely that the bill will now go to a referendum, and it is also likely that a referendum will pass the online gambling bill into law. Brennan said: "We used the governor's own pollster and found that 63 percent would vote for (online gaming)."

Brennan wondered if perhaps the reason the governor vetoed the bill is because of the large land based casino company that lobbied against it. Brennan said: "Maybe it was their lobbying (that killed it). Who knows? Regardless of what the governor did today, people are going to bet on the Internet. They're just not going to do it on a site licensed by the state of New Jersey. I'm not saying I encourage it, but that's the reality."