Home / Poker News March 2012 / Raymond Lesniak on New Jersey Poker Bill
Raymond Lesniak on New Jersey Poker Bill
Posted by: Jo Martin - Mon, 2012-03-19 10:07
New Jersey has been one of the US states pondering the legalization of online gambling and
online poker for quite a while. Had it not been for Gov. Chris Christie’s last minute change of heart, the Garden State would have had online poker legalized by now.
Sen. Raymond Lesniak has been trying to push through the regulation ever since, and a few days ago he hit yet another snag when the bill he sponsored did not pass through the legislature. This time around though, Lesniak acknowledged that there had been technical reasons behind the apparent setback. According to the Senator, Gov. Chris Christie’s office had issued a series of technical amendments which delayed the submission procedure enough to cause the initiative to miss the deadline. Lesniak said he would’ve had the time to get the bill through the Senate, but probably not enough time to push it through the State assembly. The above said amendments concerned various regulation and licensing-related details, which Lesniak said they’ll have to work harder on to finally get the legal hurdles cleared by September.
The proposed bill would allow New Jersey casinos to offer real money online poker to players within the state. Lesniak was hoping he could push the bill through before New Jersey lawmakers started debating the state budget this week.
Lesniak also said he aimed to amend the budget on March 27, and have it pushed through the legal gears by the second half of April.
According to the Senator, Gov. Chris Christie is no longer an unknown in this legal equation: he would sign the amended bill into law once on his table this time.
While the previous form of the bill would’ve only allowed legal online poker within the state, Lesniak hopes that the new DoJ stance on the Wire Act will allow New Jersey to form compacts with other jurisdictions where the activity is legal in order to expand the potential player-pool.
