New Jersey Legislature Looks to Legalize Online Gambling By Next Week

New Jersey looks ready to take a second crack at legalizing online poker and gambling. According to reports, NJ state Senator Raymond Lesniak is prepared to rush an online gambling bill through the state legislature in hopes of getting it signed sometime next week.

In lieu of the US Department of Justice announcing that the Wire Act of 1961 only applies to sports betting, Lesniak hopes to get his new bill through the legislature and on Gov. Chris Christie’s desk before the current legislative session adjourns on January 9th.

According to Lesniak, “We can be the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming. It’s the wave of the future. It’s going to come and we can be in the lead on it.”

Last March, New Jersey seemed on the brink of legalizing online gambling, but Gov. Christie vetoed the bill over legal concerns and concerns over underground casinos popping up all over the state. With the recent DOJ opinion, many feel that the legal hurdles are now overcome. Now the question remains whether Gov. Christie’s other concerns will be address.

The bill that Lesniak is trying to move through the legislature was proposed back in August and was a response to Gov. Chrisite’s concerns. Among the provisions added were fines to both operators and advertisers of underground casinos. Also, anyone playing online would have to be over 21 and living within the borders of New Jersey. Finally, there would be $100,000 a year set aside to help problem online gamblers.

Whether or not the bill will have enough support in the state Senate is unclear at the time of this article but reports suggest that information will become clear on Tuesday. Lesniak feels that based on support from lawmakers last year, he could have it out of committee by Thursday and voted on by January 9th.

If the bill was to be passed, only casinos within New Jersey will be allowed to operate online casinos and their servers must be physically located in the state. Also, users must setup an account directly with the casinos in order to play.

The ultimate question as to whether this bill will be passed may rely on whether Gov. Christie’s relaxes some of his stated criteria when he vetoed the bill last year. In addition to the concerns he pointed out, Christie also stated that he would only reconsider the measure if a referendum were passed by New Jersey citizens in regards to online gambling. Perhaps the DOJ opinion and the added safeguards in the new bill will be enough to satisfy Gov. Christie, but first we will have to see whether it gets through the legislature by January 9th.