New Jersey has become the third US state to legalise online gaming, after Governor Chris Christie signed an amended bill into law following its swift passage through the Assembly and Senate yesterday.
Christie said passing the legislation, as part of ongoing efforts to revive the fortunes of Atlantic City’s ailing casino gaming industry, “was a critical decision, and one that I did not make lightly.”
The new law will allow Atlantic City’s 12 bricks ‘n’ mortar casinos to offer versions of their games online, with the NJ constitution requiring the main servers be located within the casinos. The US state follows Nevada and Delaware in passing enabling legislation for online gaming, although Nevada’s is currently poker-only.
Christie had conditionally vetoed the bill on 7 February, recommending lawmakers subject the initiative to a ten-year trial period, raise the state’s tax cut of online casino gross win from 10% to 15%, allocate greater resources for problem gambling and bolster anti-corruption safeguards.
The governor, who applied his signature minutes after the Senate followed the Assembly in overwhelmingly approving the bill, said that with a strong regulatory framework and his suggested additional safeguards incorporated, he was “confident” the measures would “make Atlantic City more competitive while also bringing financial benefits to New Jersey as a whole.”
Online wagering is required to commence within 90 to 180 days of yesterday’s passage. Caesars chief Gary Loveman however predicted a longer time frame for the market to be fully up and running.
“I would say, at the more optimistic end of the range, maybe 18 months, somewhere between 18 months and two years, following the governor’s filing of this piece of legislation”, Loveman told analysts at the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call yesterday.
Loveman, whose company operates four of the 12 land-based casinos in Atlantic City, also said he would be “disappointed” if the WSOP brand owner was not able to translate its market share offline into the online world once the regulated market was up and running. Rival brand PokerStars is however looking to ultimately gain entry into the online market by acquiring the ailing Atlantic Club casino.
The shares of London-listed companies with ties to gaming interests in the state railed this morning upon the news. bwin.party, which has a B2B relationship with Borgota owner Boyd Gaming, was up 11% at the time of writing. 888, which has a poker software supply deal in place with Caesars, was up close to 10%. Playtech, which owns 10% of approved NJ casino supplier Sportech, was up 8.5%.
Article written by Stephen Carter
