Harrah's denies stalling New Jersey bill
A referendum on legalising sports betting in New Jersey has been stalled, with Senator Raymond Lesniak accusing Harrah's of opposing the bill.
Casino giant Harrah’s Entertainment yesterday denied responsibility for stalling New Jersey’s bill to hold a referendum on legalising sports betting at racetracks and casinos, declaring that all of New Jersey’s casinos were united in their opposition to internet and sports betting in the state.
Senator Raymond Lesniak, who introduced the bill in January along with another to permit AtÂlantic City’s casinos to offer their games online, said the delay of the committee vote on the bill until June 17 was due to Harrah’s Entertainment’s quest for “more time to oppose it,” according to the Philadelphia Enquirer.
Lesniak said: “I am really astonished at Harrah’s that they would continue to fight against New Jersey’s interests in order to protect their monopoly in Nevada on sports betting. They have no shame to openly fight against New Jersey and our needs for additional revenues for their own corporate greed.”
Harrah’s spokesperson Marybel Batjer however denied Harrah’s was delaying a sports-betting bill in New Jersey. “The entire New Jersey Casino Association opposes Internet and sports betting. The letter the association sent Tuesday to the Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee specifically addressed sports betting,” she told the paper.
Harrah’s, the world’s largest gambling company with a turnover of more than US$8.9bn in 2009, last year hired former PartyGaming chief executive Mitch Garber to head up its Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment arm and has spent heavily on lobbying for the regulation of egaming at federal level.
It is however opposed to Lesniak’s egaming bill, ostensibly related to a clause within the federal Menendez bill to regulate online poker, which the casino operator is supporting.