Home / Poker News January 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – New Jersey Mulling Poker Law?
The Poker Grapevine – New Jersey Mulling Poker Law?
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Wed, 2012-01-04 14:48
About a year ago, New Jersey was on the verge of becoming the first US state to legalize online poker and gambling. Had it not been for Governor Chris Christie’s last minute veto, the Garden State might well have had legal
on line poker already. Unfortunately for Jersey-based poker enthusiasts though, it was not meant to be that time around. Now that Nevada has set the example though, it appears that New Jersey lawmakers are once again considering legal online poker. According to the AP, Sen. Raymond Lesniak is at it again: he’s trying to push a poker bill through the state legislature before the end of the current session on January 9. The only question now is, will the Governor yet again veto the whole thing? Back in 2011, Christie was obviously afraid to let the bill through; he didn’t want to violate federal law in the matter. Now that the Nevada precedent exists, his attitude towards the bill might be a different one though. If there were other reasons behind his veto though, reasons that still exist, there’s no sense in pushing the bill under his pen again.
In other news: Phil Ivey had boycotted the 2011 WSOP on account of Full Tilt’s sloppy handling of player funds. He clearly distanced himself from Full Tilt board members and pros who allegedly lived up the money which is now missing from the room’s coffers, but according to some of the documents on which his ex-wife, Luciaetta based her latest lawsuit against the poker legend, he may have been guilty of plundering player funds as well. According to the said documents, Ivey picked up as much as $930k a month from Tiltware, before the operation went under.
Of that money, Luciaetta apparently received a $180k/month cut as alimony, but payments ceased when Ivey stopped receiving his monthly commission.
