Online Poker Legalization in New Jersey Inches Closer to Reality

A New Jersey state Senate panel on Monday approved a revised bill that would allow state residents to gamble online, but an Assembly committee hearing earlier in the day did not lead to a vote.

If a referendum is required, online poker may not become a reality in New Jersey until the earliest on November. 

Last November, residents in the state overwhelming voted in favor of legalizing sports betting with approximately 65 percent approval. 

John Brennan of NorthJersey.com offered this late Monday: 

Lesniak has said that a ballot question could not come to a vote until the November elections, delaying implementation until 2013 – at a time when other states are racing to get their own online gaming established in hopes of becoming a “magnet state” that others would later rely on technologically.

I asked Christie about the referendum question at a press conference at his office in Trenton today.

He told me he’s awaiting analysis from his Attorney General’s office on the matter.

Does that really mean that he doesn’t want online poker, and he’s just stalling? Not likely. Christie said in January that he wanted to legalize it.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher