Bad News For Online Casinos In New Jersey

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The online gambling bill passed by the Senate and Assembly of New Jersey is with the Governor Chris Christie. The Governor will act next week, when the deadline is due to expire. The latest insider information is that Christie will exercise a conditional veto. This means that the bill will not be rejected outright as it was done last time. The bill will be sent back to the legislatures with suggested changes and if the bill is suitably revised by the Senate and Assembly then the governor could sign it into law. One of the suggestions that are likely to be made according to sources is that online casino gambling is to be dropped and only online poker be considered.

Governor Christie has not said any of this. Since he has received the bill he has been sending conflicting signals and keeping everyone guessing. This information comes from Roger Gros, an influential magazine publisher in Atlantic City. Gros said on Twitter that his sources in New Jersey indicate that Governor Christie is considering a conditional veto of online bill because the Democrats are blocking his other plans. Though the bill has significant bipartisan support, it prime mover has been Democrat Senator Ray Lesniak. If this is true then the idea appears to be that the Republican governor would use the online gambling bill as leverage for Democrat support on other issues.

Another reason for such a course of action could lie in 2013 being an election year in New Jersey. 120 seats in the Senate and Assembly are up for grabs along with the governor’s post. Christie may be of the opinion that a conditional veto is the middle of the path action that is likely to generate the minimum ruffling of feathers. Amending the bill is not simple as it seems. The annual budget season is due to start within the next few weeks and in these tricky times could extend till the summer recess. After the recess the focus could shift to the elections leaving little time to attend to the bill. And maybe this will work in Christie’s favor because then he can claim that he assisted both pro and anti online gambling lobbies.

At the moment the states of New Jersey and Delaware have the most all-embracing online gambling legalization bills in motion. Senator Ray Lesniak, has not yet reacted to the news from Gros and perhaps he will not react to unconfirmed unofficial speculation. But, experts feel that he may be willing to sacrifice online casino gambling on the Governor’s altar to get at least legalized online poker in place. The deadline is next week and the state and the country will soon know where online gambling is headed in New Jersey.

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