New Jersey Leads the Way for Legal Internet Poker
Written by Renee K | Friday, March 26th, 2010
One of the toughest gambling regimes in the United States, the state of New Jersey, is forging the way for the introduction of legal online poker and casino gambling. The New Jersey House Bill 2570, introduced this month, could see the state’s casinos offer internet gambling to its citizens as early as this year.
The bill introduced by Senator Raymond J. Lesniak forms a very real opportunity for New Jersey to open the doors for other states to follow suit. The New Jersey House Hill 2570 will definitely be a pioneering piece of legislation that will see states such as California, Iowa and Florida – all currently teetering on the sidelines – forge ahead with their own intrastate online gambling laws.
The Chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA), Joe Brennan, commented on New Jersey’s attempts to introduce legal poker and gambling and said: “We’re happy that New Jersey has taken this issue into their own hands. New Jersey is recognized as having the toughest gaming regulators in the US, but as a leading gaming state with a long track record of doing things the right way, Internet gambling will have a great home here and the opportunity to begin normalizing the industry.”
The road to eventually bringing legal online poker to the casinos of Atlantic City, New Jersey will certainly not be a simple one, and groups will need to be well established in order to be able to afford licenses, according to Senator Lesniak’s bill proposal. Operators will be expected to cough up at least $200K in annual wagering permit fees, as well as a renewal fee of $100K.
The law calls for the entire industry to be overseen by the gambling commission, with sufficient fees being made available to cover all costs.
There will also be tough restrictions linked to the new bill, governing all potential problems such as under age gambling, debit and credit card abuse, game corruption and problem gambling.
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· Written by Renee K · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
