Lesniak Wants the New Jersey Gaming Authorities to Open Their Online Gambling Doors to World

State Sen. Ray Lesniak is a firm believer that New Jersey is now ready to take the next step by shaping the landscape of online gambling.

Sen. Lesniak intends to introduce a bill that could open the state’s casino and poker sites, which means that players from other states and countries will also participate.

New Jersey’s online gambling regulatory framework, of which Sen. Lesniak was an architect, is something he now intends to change in order to take the state’s laws to the next level.

The new bill looks to remove a current requirement that New Jersey’s online gambling operators must have servers in Atlantic City. This bill could allow all customers from anywhere in the world to play at the New Jersey sites, as long as they are logging in from jurisdictions where it is legal for online gambling.

The rule with regards to online server location was introduced to make sure that Atlantic City would be the main beneficiary of internet gaming when it was legalized and regulated by the state during 2013. However, the requirement has since then proven to be burdensome and not in New Jersey’s best interests, Lesniak has told reporters.

Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck, when speaking on the Global Gaming Business podcast, has admitted that talks with UK regulators over online poker liquidity sharing had broken down because the UK operators were not interested in relocating to Atlantic City.

Rebuck is currently exploring deals in order to share player pools with Pennsylvania and Nevada. Currently it shares Nevada players with Delaware, and Pennsylvania is looking towards legalization.

Online casino gaming, in the meanwhile, is delivering better results than expected. It has experienced a full nine straight months of revenue growth during 2016 and reached its highest ever haul during March of this year.

Online casino play boosted state coffers by $83.5 million since introduction, and has indirectly created 3,374 jobs and resulted in $218.9 million in wages to employees.

Silicon Valley to Mecca

Sen. Lesniak is a long-standing champion of online gaming in New Jersey, and he was instrumental in drawing up the initial regulatory framework during 2013. He has a forthcoming bill that would expand the market further and allow the state to be an international gaming hub.

He said that he has changed his mission from making New Jersey the Silicon Valley of internet gaming to the mecca of internet gaming. Sen. Lesniak said that online gaming has helped Atlantic City revive its casino sector with a success that can expand in ways that will generate greater revenue, create jobs and fuel technological innovation in gaming.

If Lesniak’s bill eventually becomes law, and should the state get an assist from the US Supreme Court in its effort to legalize sports betting, New Jersey could be the first US jurisdiction able to take sports betting online and challenge global competitors.