New Jersey A Step Closer To Online Gambling

New Jersey may have been overtaken by Pennsylvania as America’s second biggest gambling resort, but the East Coast state looks to be ahead of its neighbour when it comes to the matter of legalized internet gambling.
This week, New Jersey’s ‘Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee’ (SBA) passed a bill allowing for all types of online gambling in Atlantic City, with a 10% tax then being levied on gross gaming revenue. Commenting on the announcement,  Senator Lesniak said:
“This is another step forward toward my goal of New Jersey becoming the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming, generating hundreds of millions in revenues for our casino industry, thousands of jobs for Atlantic City, and tens of millions of revenues for our Casino Revenue Fund to help seniors and the disabled.”
Presently, the New Jersey constitution only permits gambling in Atlantic City and last year  similar online legislation was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie, who was concerned that gambling would expand to other parts of the state. This would have had negative repercussions for Christie’s ambitious plans to improve the fortunes of the beleaguered resort, with the Governor explaining at the time:
“Folks should know I favor it, I want to do it..And given the Justice Department’s go ahead for people to be able to do it, I think we should go ahead and move on it. But, we have to do it in a responsible way and it should be Atlantic City centric.”
This time around and addressing the Governor’s concerns, the latest bill proposes that the online gaming equipment be housed in Atlantic City. However, language in the bill also allows for the possibility of Atlantic City casinos accepting wagers from gamblers in other states, providing federal and state authorities deem it legal first.
The next step now requires the online gambling bill moves to the Senate floor for a full vote.