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By Lisa Fleisher
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The Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Thursday that would have allowed casinos in Atlantic City to offer online gambling to state residents.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have made his state the first in the U.S. to re-introduce online gambling.
The bill would have allowed New Jersey residents to place bets through websites run by casino companies in Atlantic City. State legislatures across the country have started work on similar bills as states try to generate revenue.
The governor’s counsel’s office told lawmakers he vetoed the bill Thursday morning.
In a press conference before the veto was made public, Christie said he would veto the bill if he had legal or constitutional questions. “I’ve got to make sure that if I were to sign something like that that it would both be legal and constitutional,” he said.
Lawmakers supporting the bill said they were confident they could tweak the proposal to get it in shape for the governor’s signature. “I know we’re going to be able to get it done,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Union County Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill.
Supporters said it was important to get moving before other states got their infrastructure up and running.
“We need to be in the forefront simply because it’s going to be the wave of the future,” said state Assemblyman John Amodeo, a Republican from Atlantic County. “If it went nationally and internationally, we could make a lot.”
Though online gambling has been effectively illegal since 2006, when Congress imposed a ban on gambling transactions across state lines, the New Jersey bill would have working around the federal law by containing all the activity within the state.
The bill would have allowed Atlantic City casinos to operate gambling websites in partnership with software providers. It was strongly backed by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, a group that includes some of the offshore companies currently operating online gambling sites available in the U.S.
hese software companies hope to become key suppliers to Atlantic City casinos for software and other expertise, said Joe Brennan, the executive director of Imega.
But the bill had a foe in Caesars Entertainment Inc., powerful force in New Jersey with four casinos in Atlantic City. Caesars is against the state-by-state approach to legalizing Web gambling because the company is hoping to successfully pressure the federal government to create a regulated nationwide system, which would be both more simple to manage and much more profitable for the company.
WallStreet Journal Full Report Here
AFP/Getty Images
The Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Thursday that would have allowed casinos in Atlantic City to offer online gambling to state residents.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have made his state the first in the U.S. to re-introduce online gambling.
The bill would have allowed New Jersey residents to place bets through websites run by casino companies in Atlantic City. State legislatures across the country have started work on similar bills as states try to generate revenue.
The governor’s counsel’s office told lawmakers he vetoed the bill Thursday morning.
In a press conference before the veto was made public, Christie said he would veto the bill if he had legal or constitutional questions. “I’ve got to make sure that if I were to sign something like that that it would both be legal and constitutional,” he said.
Lawmakers supporting the bill said they were confident they could tweak the proposal to get it in shape for the governor’s signature. “I know we’re going to be able to get it done,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, a Union County Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill.
Supporters said it was important to get moving before other states got their infrastructure up and running.
“We need to be in the forefront simply because it’s going to be the wave of the future,” said state Assemblyman John Amodeo, a Republican from Atlantic County. “If it went nationally and internationally, we could make a lot.”
Though online gambling has been effectively illegal since 2006, when Congress imposed a ban on gambling transactions across state lines, the New Jersey bill would have working around the federal law by containing all the activity within the state.
The bill would have allowed Atlantic City casinos to operate gambling websites in partnership with software providers. It was strongly backed by the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association, a group that includes some of the offshore companies currently operating online gambling sites available in the U.S.
hese software companies hope to become key suppliers to Atlantic City casinos for software and other expertise, said Joe Brennan, the executive director of Imega.
But the bill had a foe in Caesars Entertainment Inc., powerful force in New Jersey with four casinos in Atlantic City. Caesars is against the state-by-state approach to legalizing Web gambling because the company is hoping to successfully pressure the federal government to create a regulated nationwide system, which would be both more simple to manage and much more profitable for the company.
WallStreet Journal Full Report Here
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