New Jersey Could Expand its iGaming Business to Other States; Nevada to Only Offer Online Poker for the Near Term
Legislation proposed in the state of New Jersey could set the state up to become a center for the nascent U.S. Internet betting industry, says the Press of Atlantic City.
New Jersey State Assemblyman John Amodeo said this week that he believes the bill may gain some traction next month, incidentally the same month in which the state intends to launch its brand new online gambling market.
Games are scheduled to go live in the Garden State on November 26.
Bill would allow for some aspects of operations to be based outside Atlantic City
The terms of New Jersey’s online wagering law stipulate that the Internet betting industry be centered in the state’s land-based casino capitol of Atlantic City. The law, which was signed by first-term Republican Governor Chris Christie, whose name is also frequently bandied about as a frontrunner to gain his party’s 2016 presidential nod, also dictates that all online betting operations be tied to one of Atlantic City’s twelve land-based casino properties.
According to Assemblyman Amodeo, the new bill would permit some operations related to online betting to be moved outside of state lines as long as the servers remained within New Jersey.
“Ultimately, we could see Las Vegas handle everything west of the Mississippi, and Atlantic City could handle everything east of the Mississippi. This is that big. It has that kind of potential,” Amodeo was quoted by the Press.
And while the idea of online gaming compacts that would permit betting web sites to conduct business across state lines is nothing new, there are some who say that such arrangements, particularly those involving more than a small handful of states, will be hard to pull off. This is because states have different ideas of which companies should be regulated and also employ more – or less – stringent background checks.
One example is the ouster of Caesars from its East Boston casino plan after Massachusetts gaming regulators uncovered alleged organized crime connections to an investor in its now-scrapped Nevada Gansevoort project, causing it to walk away from a casino development it was working on in conjunction with historic racetrack Suffolk Downs.
Suffolk Downs intends to look for a new casino company with which to partner in Boston; a public referendum on the Suffolk Downs project has retained its originally-scheduled date of November 5, also the date on which Boston will hold its citywide elections.
The Massachusetts situation with Caesars illustrates the point that even long-established casino companies who are licensed in multiple states can be rejected by other states interested in imposing more strict oversight.
Nevada not looking to expand roster of online games on offer
Heading to Nevada, this week the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board put to bed a rumor that the Silver State, which was the first state in the nation to pass a law regulating some form of Internet betting when it cleared the way for online poker games back in 2011, may soon be looking to pass legislation that would regulate other types of online betting as well.
Not so, says A.G. Burnett, who heads up that organization. This week he said that Silver State visitors and residents should not expect to log onto web sites offering casino games anytime soon.
“We’re only six months into poker. For now, we want to prove out poker first,” Burnett was quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Nevada currently has two operational real money online poker sites. Ultimate Poker made history when it launched the first real money poker room in the U.S. in April of this year; the second site, WSOP.com, opened its virtual doors in Nevada last month.
