New Jersey senator Ray Lesniak has said that PokerStar’s approval to operate in the US state “was long overdue”.
“It’s about time,” Lesniak told Card Player, adding that he didn’t know when PokerStars would launch in the state but “the sooner the better.”
“What intrigues me about internet poker is to have online tournaments with the finals live in Atlantic City,” said Lesniak, adding that he would “love to advance” legislation to share liquidity with player pools beyond the state boundaries.
“The only legislative change that would be necessary would be to change the tax structure,” he said. “Obviously it would not work if there was a tax from where the person was playing [as well as] in the state of New Jersey.”
Lesniak, who is considering a run for state governor in the 2017 gubernatorial elections, said the process needed a state leader who would “aggressively pursue the needed agreements with other countries to operate in concert.”
Following last week’s approval, PokerStars said it would provide details of launch plans “in the near future.”
