Home / Poker News April 2012 / New Jersey Poker Bill Approved
New Jersey Poker Bill Approved
Posted by: Jo Martin - Wed, 2012-04-04 09:48
New Jersey has officially become the second US state to take concrete steps towards legalizing online gambling and
online poker after Nevada. On Tuesday, a New Jersey Senate Committee passed a bill that would allow online real money wagering on casino games.
The bill, which is basically the brainchild of Sen. Raymond Lesniak, and is co-sponsored by Sen. James Whelan, took a huge step forward on Tuesday, when it was approved in a rather impressive manner no less: 11 Senators approved it and there was only one abstaining.
Despite the obviously positive development, the bill still has a lot of ground to cover before it hits Gov. Chris Christie’s table again (the Gov. has vetoed a similar bill a while ago). The next step in the legal process isn’t due until the end of this month the earliest, and it’s a full Senate and Assembly vote.
Always the optimist, Lesniak told news agencies that he was hopeful the bill would get passed this time and that online poker and gambling would be legal within the Garden State by September. Now then, New Jersey may not be big enough to make legal intrastate online poker a winning proposition, but according to Lesniak, the DoJ’s change of stance regarding the interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act will allow the state to form compacts with other states where the above said online activities are also legal.
Even though the Governor has vetoed the last such legal initiative, his stance on the matter this time around is said to be a different one. In January, Christie said that he believed New Jersey should definitely be in the online gambling business. As a matter of fact, he wanted his state to become an epicenter for real money online gaming activities, but he also said he wanted to do things right, without raising constitutional and legal concerns.
Whether this bill is indeed something Christie can get behind remains to be seen.
