News

Monday, 20 December 2010 07:39

Citizens of New Jersey have come another step closer to being able to partake in legal online gambling while the rest of the United States looks on.

On Thursday, Senator Raymond Lesniak's bill S-490 that outlines the way for the state's casinos and gambling operators to provide intra-state online gambling services was passed by the New Jersey Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee. This follows its already successful approval by the State Senate on 22nd November by a crushing 29 to 5 majority. The bill must now go before the New Jersey State Assembly who will decide its fate and that of the prospect of legal and regulated Internet gambling within the state. If successful, the bill will be presented to Governor Chris Christie to be signed into law. This could become a reality before the end of next week.

There is plenty of momentum behind this bill, with a recent study estimating that regulated intra-state gambling could produce as much as $250 million for New Jersey in revenue. That much revenue would produce taxes to the value of $55 million for the state's coffers.

In addition to the revenue benefit to the state, there is also an international appeasement in the shape of the conformation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. Had the bill allowed state based operators to accept foreign players, this would have created a conflict in WTO rules. Instead, by restricting state registered operators to only accept players from within the state, while prohibiting overseas based operators from allowing New Jersey players to participate, the rules are conformed to and everyone is happy.

This is good news for the state's flagging gambling industry whose Atlantic City casinos are suffering from a big fall in revenue over the past few years. Online gambling has been viewed as part of the reason for the fall in casino revenue and the bill was created to put some of that revenue back into the state instead of lamely watching as it flows away to untaxed and unregulated foreign companies.

If bill S-490 is passed by the full Assembly, the state's casinos will be allowed to provide the online version of all the favourite casino games, such as blackjack, poker, slots, craps, roulette, baccarat, sic bo and all the other popular games. This will also put New Jersey ahead in the race to be the first US state to legalise online gambling ahead of close rivals California, Florida and Maryland.