There’s in an inherent problem with the online gambling laws in the few states that have legalized the online interactive gaming industry and New Jersey State Senator, Ray Lesniak, knows it. Lesniak believes that New Jersey sits at the crux of the next new wave of internet innovation that could drive state based revenues higher than ever before. The problem that Lesniak, and many others, see is the market sharing limitations that the laws have worked into them.
Outside of interstate gambling compacts, states that allow online gambling are not legally permitted to share their online gambling with anyone that is physically located outside of the state in which they are legal. New Jersey can simply only provide online gambling services legally to citizens that are within their state lines. This significantly limits the scope and market value of online gambling in New Jersey. Despite the fact that United States online gambling is booming, as more players enter the market the profits will start to dwindle and the market will need to grow past it’s existing legal limits to stay in profitable circumstances.
State Senator Lesniak has stated his intentions for proposing a bill that would break down those legal market barriers and open up the state’s online poker rooms and casinos to players from other states and even other countries. The bill that the state senator proposes would firstly remove the clause that requires servers for online gambling websites to physically be located in Atlantic City. Secondly, it will allow anyone in the world to play on the websites that are located out of New Jersey with the only limitation being that they must also be from a legal gambling jurisdiction. In other words, the state’s gambling laws would be amended to allow players from other regions that have also legalized online gambling for their respective territories.
The brick and mortar casino establishments have seen an upswing in business as a result of the law that stipulates the online website servers must be located in Atlantic City. Lesniak believes that this law is actually doing more harm than good despite the good it has done. Lesniak told reporters that even though physical casinos in New Jersey once befitted from this, it is now one of the things that is holding them back. It’s also important to mention that this is the primary reason the UK, one of the largest gambling jurisdiction in the world, refuses to share the market with New Jersey. If they have to move their servers to New Jersey, they don’t see the point in going on with the deal to share the market. It wouldn’t make sense. They would be giving up the already lucrative and enormous market they are in, for one that isn’t nearly the size and is subject to much more rigid regulation.
Lesniak was one of the original architects of the online gambling infrastructure that has been created in New Jersey. His ambitions have only grown since 2013, “I’ve changed my mission from making New Jersey the Silicon Valley of Internet gaming to the mecca of Internet gaming,” the state senator said. He wants to make New Jersey the nation’s leader in online gambling entertainment.