For better and for worse, online gambling is arriving at New Jersey.
In late February, Chris Christie officially signed into law a bill that legalized internet gambling in Atlantic City.
Initially the bill was vetoed by the Governor because of issues surrounding transparency and taxes. Lawmakers adjusted the text and the amended bill passed by an overwhelming majority in the legislature and earned Christie’s seal of approval.
Listed below are the fundamentals of the bill:
– Casinos situated in Atlantic City will have a way to utilize for a license to offer online gambling. Only the twelve official Atlantic City casinos is likely to be qualified to receive the license. No other organizations can provide internet gambling, and face stiff fines should they do. All facilities used for the operation of internet gambling must certanly be located within city limits; only bets which are received by way of a server in Atlantic City is likely to be legal.
– Players must certanly be “physically present” in New Jersey to place wagers. As time goes on, New Jersey may develop agreements with other states เว็บตรง where internet gambling is legal to permit out-of-state gambling. The casino’s equipment must verify players’ locations before accepting wagers.
– Any games offered to play in the casinos may be played online. (For comparison, Nevada only allows poker.) As of now, sports betting won’t be protected by this bill, although the state of New Jersey is wanting to fight the federal statute barring the legalization of sports betting.
– The bill has all sorts of provisions to keep gambling addiction away, such as for instance requiring the prominent display of the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline number, a method to set maximum bets and losses over a certain time frame, and tracking player losses to identify and limit users who may demonstrate addictive gambling behavior.
– Revenue from online gambling will carry a 15% tax. The Christie administration states that about $180 million in revenue for the state is likely to be generated using this tax, however, many analysts think this number is seriously overestimated.
The official regulations, that your bill required the Division of Gaming Enforcement to make, were released on June 3, and are at the mercy of a “public comment period” until August 2 before being finalized. These rules include details such as for instance what sort of casino acquires the appropriate licenses and procedures for maintaining network security on gambling sites.
So, will online gambling actually benefit the state?
The Good
Revenues from Atlantic City casinos have already been on the decline for the past seven years, and online gambling might be what saves the failing casinos. Since 2006, casino revenue has dropped from $5.2 billion to around $3 billion. Online gambling might be a $500 million to $1 billion industry in New Jersey, which can be enough to keep struggling casinos afloat and save jobs in Atlantic City. Further, although estimates of tax revenue are all over the map, there’s potential for online gambling to be always a considerably valuable supply of money for the state. The casinos will also have to pay a tax to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, that may provide further help struggling casinos in Atlantic City.
For the gamer, low overhead costs mean better prizes and more opportunities to play. Casinos can incent players with free “chips” that have minimal costs for them but give players more opportunities to play and win. The convenience of gambling online allows players to play more with less travel.
BAD:
One of the goals of the bill is supposedly to attract more people to go to the brick-and-mortar casinos, but it is hard to say if online gambling will in truth lead to this outcome. You can speculate it may even cause people to go to the casinos less (However, this seems unlikely; the social element and the free drinks are lost in online gambling. Also, research suggests that, at the very least with poker, internet gaming doesn’t reduce casino gaming.) Advertising for the host casino is likely to be allowed on the online gambling sites, which could possibly encourage people to go to the casino but could also be annoying for players.
Online gambling might be seriously devastating for folks who have gambling addictions, or even cause people to develop them, raising financial and moral concerns. Even with the preventative steps the bill requires, it will surely be much harder to cut off compulsive gamblers if they could place bets anywhere with a web connection.
Regardless, it will probably be described as a while ahead of the casinos can in fact start their online gambling offerings. The regulations need to be finalized and casinos need to utilize for licensure and develop their gambling websites. What this means is the casinos won’t be enjoying this new supply of revenue throughout the 2013 summer season, which could be Atlantic City’s toughest season ever following recovery from Hurricane Sandy.