A couple of days ago news broke that New Jersey was at it again: Sen. Raymond Lesniak has set his mind on pushing a bill through the state legislation right onto the table of Governor Chris Christie before the end of the current legislative session on January 9. The move comes in the wake of the approval of online poker and online gambling regulation by the Nevada Gaming Commission, making Nevada the first place in the US where online poker and online gambling are legal.
New Jersey had pursued similar intra-state legalization at the beginning of 2011, and the bill did indeed clear the state legislature, but the initiative was dealt a fatal blow when the Governor vetoed it.
Why would things be different this time around? Does the Nevada precedent change anything?
It would appear that the reason why Christie choked off the previous legalization drive was a simple one: he did not want to violate federal law in the matter. Now that Nevada went ahead with its own intra-state laws though, that doesn’t seem to be much of a hurdle anymore. Christie is generally regarded to be for the legalization of online wagering and he did indeed say on Wednesday that he supported the law as long as it wasn’t unconstitutional and it was focused on Atlantic City.
The new legal initiative seems to have hit a snag already though. The Senate and the Assembly panels which should’ve approved the bill put off the hearing, a move which will most likely result in the reintroduction of the bill on Tuesday, after the legislature reorganizes. All bills not approved by Monday will have to be reintroduced on Tuesday. The reason for the tabling of the hearing is a rather convoluted one: in order to keep within the legal bounds set by the constitution, it may be required that the decision be subjected to popular vote.
In its current shape, the bill pushed by Ray Lesniak would allow people within New Jersey to create accounts with online casinos and to engage in real money gambling through those accounts. In order to gamble online legally, all participants would have to be in New Jersey.
Online poker prop deals offer generous rake rebate but they come with certain propping restrictions which one should always understand before jumping onboard.
