Following three years of fighting by gambling proponents for a bill allowing Atlantic City Casinos to roll out online gambling from their terrestrial locations, Christ Christie, the governor of New Jersey vetoed the bill that was introduced by State Senator Ray Lesniak, on Thursday, 7th February. The Governor, however, vetoed the bill on condition that minor changes were made to it.
A couple of weeks later, on Tuesday, 26th February, 2013, the State Legislature passed a revised bill with all the changes that Christie required. The changes included setting a 10-year trial period for online betting and increasing the taxes on the Atlantic City casinos’ online winnings from 10% to 15%.
Governor Chris Christie signed the revised bill hours after receiving it on his desk and the state of New Jersey has thus joined Delaware and Nevada on the growing list of individual states to legalize and regulate their online gambling industries.
Chris Christie stated that the signing of the bill was a critical decision that he did not make lightly but he is confident that with the proper regulatory framework and safeguards that he insisted on including in the bill, they are offering a responsible, yet exciting option that will make Atlantic City more competitive while also bringing financial benefits to New Jersey as a whole.
The bill will only take effect once the state Division of Gaming Enforcement sets a start date which is presumed to be three to four months after the law is signed. However, Casino executives predict that it could take six months to a year to get the system up and running.
