With the New Jersey state assembly and senate both having approved proposals to legalise online gambling at Atlantic City’s 12 casinos, senators are now pressing governor Chris Christie to sign the bill into law.
Christie (pictured) vetoed the bill in late 2011 and the reworked proposals for intrastate online gambling eventually moved swiftly through the state houses in late December 2012.
A number of influential state senators have now written to the governor highlighting the economic benefits of enacting legislation that would make the Garden State the first in the US to approve online gambling.
Highlighting the ways internet gaming would boost New Jersey’s economy, the letter states: “Given the fiscal conditions facing our casinos, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and the recent movement toward internet gaming in states across the country, we cannot afford to wait any longer for implementation.
"The short-term benefits would be in the form of increased economic activity, increased jobs and increased tax revenues, at very little cost to the state. Over the long term, internet gaming could change the landscape of the gaming industry in New Jersey.”
