Will Chris Christie Sign New Jersey Internet Gambling Bill?
On Thursday, New Jersey made history when its Senate approved a measure legalizing intrastate internet gambling by an overwhelming 33-3 margin. The bill, which the New Jersey Assembly approved on Monday, now heads to the desk of Governor Chris Christie (pictured) for a signature. You’ll recall that in March 2011, Christie vetoed a similar measure, but all indications are that he’ll put pen to paper in the next 45 days.
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“We’re happy about the result of the vote,” Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan told PocketFives moments after the bill’s passage. “The margin is not unexpected because this had strong bipartisan support the last time it came up in the Senate. Now, we hope that when it goes to Governor Christie’s desk, he considers what many of the Senators said today: New Jersey needs to grow and evolve its gaming industry to help Atlantic City casinos get on their feet after Hurricane Sandy and all of the regional competition.”
Atlantic City casinos temporarily shut their doors following Sandy in October and have faced stiff, growing competition from neighboring states like Delaware and Pennsylvania. The former has even approved full intrastate online gaming. Brennan gleaned, “We’re happy that the casinos will have internet gaming available to them and we hope that Governor Christie will sign it. He has been publicly supportive of New Jersey becoming, as he calls it, the ‘epicenter’ of internet gambling in the U.S. It’s our expectation that he’ll sign it.”
We’ve had a few members of the online poker community ask when we could see games kick off in New Jersey. Should we be buying laptops for Christmas in anticipation of legalized online poker? Brennan(pictured) remarked, “Contained within the legislation is that games will be offered no sooner than 90 days, but no longer than six months. I’m sure that many people in New Jersey want to see it be no more than 90 days.”
Delaware and Nevada have legalized online gaming in some form within their state’s borders, but could New Jersey beat both to market? “One reason New Jersey might have a step up on Nevada is that Nevada is very saturated with casinos. If you look at the population, better than 90% of it lives near a casino. There is a less of a business case to make heavy investments in online gaming when everyone is within a stone’s throw of a brick and mortar casino. New Jersey has triple the population, is one of the wealthiest states on a per capita basis, and the population center is distant to where the casinos are in Atlantic City.”
Brennan added the following caveat: “That said, I don’t expect that online gaming will cannibalize the traffic into brick and mortar casinos. It has been demonstrated in economic development studies that the economics of your average online player are nowhere close to the economics of your average brick and mortar player. More than 90% of people playing online poker are playing hands for a penny or a dollar. You can’t sit at a table in Atlantic City for a dollar a hand. It will allow casinos to groom the casual small-stakes player into an eventual casino player.”
If you’re reading this, you might wonder what the rush was to legalize online gambling in New Jersey. Thursday marked the final day of the New Jersey legislature’s business for 2012. We asked Brennan if Sandy’s impact on the Atlantic City gaming market expedited the legislation: “No. This was already ticketed for passage before Sandy. It was being debated last spring and had majority support then. When you look at the numbers from the last time we did this legislation, we tightened up in the Assembly, but it was a blowout in the Senate. New Jersey Senators recognize this is an industry the state needs to jump on quickly.”
We’ll keep you posted right here on PocketFives. See what else is brewing in the Garden State by checking out our New Jersey poker community.
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