Home / Poker News February 2013 / Online Poker Legalized in New Jersey
Online Poker Legalized in New Jersey
Posted by: James Carter. - Wed, 2013-02-27 04:25
The New Jersey State Legislature and Governor Chris Christie both promised they would move fast on the
online poker bill Garden State lawmakers have been mulling for quite a few years now, and they did indeed deliver. On Tuesday, a mere few hours after the state legislature delivered an amended version of the bill to his desk, Gov. Chris Christie signed the bill into law, making New Jersey the third US State to legalize online poker within its borders. All the changes that Christie had requested to his conditional veto have been made in the bill, including a 10 year trial period for online betting, and the raising of taxes on casino revenues resulting from online poker and online gambling from 10 to 15%.
The decision that Christie made was not a light one: he had vetoed a similar initiative couple of years ago, but this time around he insisted that with all the legal safeguards and the thorough regulatory framework that he managed to have included into the bill, have made the move one that would indeed boost the revenues of Atlantic City casinos, returning the state of New Jersey to the top of the best gambling destinations in the nation. Christie has always had an issue with how legalizing online poker would deliver more customers to the brick-and-mortar operators, but according to the new setup, that goal would be achieved by the offering of the various comps accruable through online play, which could only be redeemed in person at the casino.
Besides all the direct benefits that the bill will have for Atlantic City, it is believed that it will come with a series of more than welcome side-effects too.
PokerStars are for instance looking to acquire on Atlantic City-based casino operation, to thusly prepare their return to the legalized US online poker market.
