NJ egaming bill passes Senate, heads to Assembly
New Jersey Senate votes to allow Atlantic City's casinos to offer egaming to state residents and internationally.
The New Jersey Senate has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill to allow online gambling in the state.
S-490, which would allow Atlantic City’s casinos to offer online versions of their games to New Jersey and also to international customers, passed by a majority vote of 29-5 and now heads to the Assembly for consideration.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Raymond Lesniak, said: “It would generate millions of dollars in private revenue and would give casinos a new product to capture gaming dollars from tech-savvy gamblers. Right now, internet wagering is taking place, and the funds are going to offshore operators. It’s time that we give casinos the authority and the tools to keep these funds in the Garden State.”
Lesniak added the bill would also “generate a minimum of US$35m in tax revenue to help build a bridge to self-sufficiency for our state’s ailing horse tracks.”
Lesniak’s S-490 bill, if passed, would see the state collect 20% of annual gross gaming revenues. A study commissioned by lobby group the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) which worked with Lesniak on drafting the bill, has estimated that a NJ intrastate gambling system could raise up to US$250m in gross gaming revenue and US$55m in taxes on an annual basis. H2 Gambling Capital has projected that casino gross win of US$290m and poker gross win of US$270m could be generated intrastate on an annual basis within five years. These figures would be boosted by the addition of international customers.
Senator Richard Codey’s S-829 bill to authorise the establishment of an exchange wagering system in the state was also approved by the Senate yesterday by a vote of 34-1, and will head to the Assembly for consideration.
Both bills were passed by the full Senate as part of a package of Democrat-sponsored bills aimed at propping up the Garden State’s ailing horse racing and casino industries.
Lesniak’s bill to allow New Jersey voters to decide if they want to legalise sports betting in the state, pending the outcome of his legal challenge to the federal ban on the practice, also passed out of Committee yesterday. The Senate Economic Growth committee passed the measures by a 6-1 vote.
Lesniak’s lawsuit is seeking to have the 1992 federal ban on sports betting ruled “unfair and unconstitutional”, on the basis that it exempted four states “ Delaware, Nevada, Oregon and Montana “ with laws authorising sports betting on the books at the time, to reap the benefits, while New Jersey and other states cannot.
In July Republican governor Chris Christie declined to join Lesniak’s lawsuit following a legal battle to do so won by his Democratic predecessor Jon Corzine who called it a “legal long shot”.