Updating yesterday’s story, State Sen. Raymond Lesniak introduced a bill that would allow New Jersey to negotiate poker player liquidity deals with other US states and foreign countries.
Raymond Lesniak’s bill has not been written yet, but the longtime state senator said it will contain several things. First, it would remove a restriction that requires sites that serve New Jersey players to house their servers in Atlantic City.
Ray Lesniak Loosens Online Poker Restrictions
Lesniak said his proposal also will allow players from other jurisdictions to play on sites operating in New Jersey’s online poker industry. The stipulation would require online poker to be legal in those jurisdcitions. The bill also would allow foreign operators to house their operations in New Jersey.
Each of the stipulations are designed to let New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement to negotiate interstate compact with other US states, such as Delaware, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The foreign stipulations would allow the DGE more leeway in negotiating a long-discussed shared liquidity agreement with the United Kingdom.
David Rebuck on Shared Liquidity
The proposed bill comes a day after Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck said current New Jersey online gambling laws restrict his agency’s negotiating ability. The stipulation that any operators who accept New Jersey players must house their computer servers in Atlantic City has been a particular impediment.
David Rebuck said that he has discussed shared liquidity agreements with Nevada, Delaware, and the United Kingdom, but the Atlantic City requirement has barred the way. Gaming operators in Nevada and Delaware are unlikely to want to house their servers in Atlantic City (and might be barred by state law), while operators in the United Kingdom would be less inclined to do so.
In short, the Atlantic City laws are a non-starter.
New Jersey Interstate Poker Compact?
Lesniak’s other provisions also are designed to facilitate cooperation with other jurisdictions. Delaware and Nevada signed an interstate poker compact in 2015, which helped boost revenues in those states. Still, the combined population of Nevada and Delaware is not the size of New Jersey’s population, so the desire to change states law has not been that great in previous years. The UK has reasons it might not agree to a player liquidity agreement with New Jersey, so a possible UK agreement also has limited appeal.
Recently, Pennsylvania took steps to legalize and regulation online gambling. Pennsylvania’s online poker industry would provide a boost to New Jersey’s own iPoker industry, so now is the time for the state’s officials to smooth the way for a new pro-online poker law.
“The Mecca of Internet Gaming”
When asked about his new bill, Sen. Ray Lesniak said, “I’ve changed my mission from making New Jersey the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming to the Mecca of Internet gaming.”
The 40-year veteran legislator continued, “Online gaming has helped Atlantic City to revive its casino sector with a success that we can expand in ways that will generate more revenue, create jobs and fuel technological innovation in gaming.”
When this site reported about David Rebuck’s complaints about the restrictive nature of New Jersey’s online gambling law, we predicted that changes of the gaming laws would be required — and likely to gain bipartisan support. Raymond Lesniak was not predicted to be a sponsor of such a bill, but it is not out-of-character.
Raymond Lesniak’s Career
Raymond Lesniak once was the mayor of Atlantic City and he has been a longtime supporter of brick-and-mortar and online gambling in the state. Lesniak ran for the Democrat Party’s nomination for governor in 2017, but he lost to banker and former ambassador Phil Murphy. Murphy takes on Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno on the November 2017 ballot, to see who replaced Chris Christie as governor of New Jersey.
At the time he declared for the nomination, the 71-year old Lesniak said he probably would retire, if he did not win the governorship. Now it appears that the state senator will continue in office. Given his staunch support for Atlantic City’s casino industry, Raymond Lesniak’s continued career is a good sign for proponents of online gambling.
