New Jersey may soon legalize online gambling

Posted under Casino News, US casino news by Online Casino Keeper

New Jersey may soon become the first state in the USA, where online gambling will be legalized. Today you know that people are restricted in their opportunities to visit gambling sites and to play there using any payment method they like. Moreover, at some states like Washington, for example, online casinos are considered to be illegal and gambling is equal to class C felony, what includes child’s pornography and teasing of animals. But at the same time there are the districts, which try to change such situation to their favor, and the most successful results are achieved by New Jersey casino fans.

At the beginning of January, 2010 the authorities of New Jersey decided to try making online gambling legal. The reasons of the introduction of such bill were bad economic situation of the state and of Atlantic City land-based casinos. You know that Atlantic City is the second largest center after Las Vegas of gambling. There are famous gambling houses there, which however suffer great losses today. So the only way to improve the situation is to allow them establishing of corresponding gambling sites. There is also another profit from legalizing online gambling, as it will bring $200 to the state budget and will create 1 500 jobs, what is especially acute after the world financial crisis.

It was also said, that everything would be done to prevent people from other states from getting an access to such online casinos in the USA. The legislators announced that they would introduce special software, which will guarantee that online gambling would be legal only within the boundaries of New Jersey.

Today the pace New Jersey is moving is amazing. In fact, New Jersey Senate Wagering and Tourism committee has already cleared a bill, what is a great achievement as it was the first act like that.

At first the bill was opposed by horse racing industry. Online horse betting has been already legalized in this state, what significantly improved their state of matters. And they are now afraid that the legalizing of poker rooms and online casinos will move them to the decline. But their arguments were not taken into consideration too seriously, and the senators on the committee approved the bill by 3 votes to 1.

It was definitely good news not only for New Jersey bill sponsor Democratic Senator Ray Lesniak, but also for gamblers and for the representatives of gambling industry. And if the bill is legalized, it will be a great benefit for the state itself. It will be the first one in the USA which make online gambling legal. It may become a good example for the other states, where the similar but not so successful attempts have been already made. Moreover, the fact that New Jersey may become the first will allow making the state the centre of gaming industry with the creation of technical support and data storage centers.

There are predictions that online gambling may be legalized in New Jersey by the end of 2010. There is not so much time left, so we will soon know about the outcome of introduction of such a bill.