New Jersey Ahead of the Feds

May 18, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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While the federal government in the United States does not seem willing to move forward with the proposed online gambling bills, some areas of the US are not following the same route. The state of New Jersey is gearing up to license online casino gambling, and do not seem perturbed by the lack of movement on this issue by the federal government.

New Jersey, home to the famous Atlantic City, is investigating a number of different options that include online casinos in their plans to return the casino activity in their state to its former volume.

A bill authored by Senator Ray Lesniak deals, in the most part, with the issue of sports betting, and how it should be permitted in New Jersey. In the same bill, there is provision to allow those casinos that have been granted New Jersey licenses to open online counterparts. These online casinos could only be used by residents of New Jersey.

As far as online casinos go, if they could base themselves out of Atlantic City as their legal gambling jurisdiction, this would be an excellent choice, since the jurisdiction is already respected, and much of what would be needed is already set up by the Atlantic City Gaming Commission.

In fact, in a report by the Atlantic City Weekly, those online gaming officials who were at a hearing regarding the act authored by Senator Ray Lesniak regarding online gaming in the state, explained that Atlantic City was a good choice because it already has a good reputation. The online gaming officials also noted that since the gambling regulations in Atlantic City are already strict, it would help to improve the image of online gaming as far as safety and security is concerned.

iMEGA’s Chairman, Joe Brennan, Jr. noted: “The leading opposition to those bills in New Jersey is Harrah's. Harrah's has said that they prefer a federal solution and they have gone all in on the federal solution.” In a somewhat amusing response to how Harrah’s feels about the issue, Joe Brennan said: “Well, we at iMEGA believe that we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

A New Jersey lobbyist explained what the main ideas of the New Jersey online gambling bill entail. He said: “The thrust of the bill is to unite the brick and mortar existing licensees with online gaming interests; to join them together so they can complement each other.”