As has been said before, from the board room to the bedroom, position often means everything and that is precisely what is taking place in New Jersey right now – combatants within the gaming industry seeking to separate themselves from the pack either hovering or gathering at the seaside resort with the prospect and expectation of shoveling riches into barrels that the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk would have trouble lifting.
It is not a task and undertaking limited to New Jersey alone. It is, however, being shepherded by amateurs that are as children when it comes to gaming…politicians, regulators, legislators, lobbyists, and others of similar ilk. If this were a bandwagon on which they should be and sort to leap upon same, they would miss. So much for Halloween and Thanksgiving. So, they run alongside constantly asking questions that border on the ridiculous.
A specific point of information and observation removed from New Jersey is that in the final two months of this year’s legislative session in Albany, New York, more than three dozen companies, Indian tribes and trade groups with an interest in gambling or horse racing lobbied New York’s state government. In fact, there were more lobbyists representing the gambling industry than there are members of the Legislature. Fun stuff.
Those familiar with the situation have indicated that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has collected over $1 million in donations from gambling and horse racing interests since 2005. It has been estimated that gambling and horse racing interests have spent more than $59 million on lobbying and political contributions in New York; aren’t politics wonderful? It used to be called a bribe, then influential monies and now it is a donation. Be still my beating heart and Thesaurus. But, those dollars proved to be the turning point and it then is up to the state’s voters, who will go to the polls, deciding whether to amend
It is now being heralded that the Garden State, with more wetlands than gardens, holds the key to the rest of the US market for salivating players (pun intended) such as PokerStars who, over the years, have managed to put most of the rest of the poker sites into early retirement.
As Jake Pollard observed recently, it is close to a raging debate in anticipation of November 26th, the proposed launch date in a regulate iGaming sector. I might be way off base, but we are speaking of a card game here, not the coming of the Apocalypse. A card game, like rummy, pinochle, gin rummy, canasta, bridge, cribbage, spades, hearts, go fish, war and more. What am I missing all this time? A giant rhubarb over playing a card game for money at a casino table or via the Internet. Wait, what is that noise I hear, the universe crumbling?!?!
Once this passes, and it will, whether now, or later, the richness of the United States is there for a proper share of same to be claimed, California, for example, is hyperventilating over this with all their poker parlors and 38 million-strong.
Monopoly is more than a child’s game. Once PokerStars is in through New Jersey they will make the clarion call of the 1800’s about going west child’s play despite the Indians of those years the same folks that will stand in their path but without bows and arrows, just casinos, small, large and huge.
No offense but watching Poker Stars is like taking Dracula to lunch at the local blood bank. Need another analogy of sorts…they have marched through France, Spain and Italy and want to make the U.S. another of their colonies. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 means nothing more than a bump in the road to them.
The bravado of declaring New Jersey’s regulation as “the best in the world” and “most independent” is a reaching a bit since comparisons are not readily available. Declaring someone as standing tall in a room of elves and midgets is not exactly impressive. Has everyone lost sight of the simplicity of this, playing a card game, at a table or on the Internet??? We are not mining plutonium here
It is claimed that sources (gotta love that CIA description) close to the New Jersey gambling scene think PokerStars will not be among the licensed operators at least for the first year. Later…likely. What happened to the competitive spirit that helped build our country??
On the issue of sports betting, which will eclipse the dollar value, so to speak, of poker, the legal arguments against it are diaphanous and no more than posturing, as is done by the professional leagues of the States and even the NCAA. Of course there are fans, pure and near perfect, but those with wagers large and small, are the audience that wagers for fun, many to make serious money no doubt. But a cataclysmic result is not forthcoming and all those proclaiming it are no better but are doing what they believe to be politically correct. The hypocrisy in the air is so thick you can reach out and feel it.
Judges ruling against sport betting are the blind leading the blind…especially when referring to PASPA and similar nonsense whether, technically a law that will ultimately be repealed (which will happen here), or pointing to major sports leagues who sue against sports betting but fill their coffers with monies from casinos for billboards that are the wallpaper of their outfields.
In summary, New Jersey’s gaming market consists of 12 commercial casinos located in Atlantic City, four racetracks with pari-mutuel wagering on horseracing, off-track betting, a state lottery, and charitable gaming. For decades, New Jersey had been the premiere gambling destination on the east coast; however, the rollout of casino gaming across the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, among other factors, has left Atlantic City’s casino industry in a state of decline. In response, the state has been ramping up efforts to revitalize the city and its ailing gaming industry. Welcome to the current marching bands to expand poker but bear in mind that the silliness of all this is that playing poker via the Internet in New Jersey is limited, in essence and, theory or reality, standing/seated/lying down within the state itself, not, for example from contiguous states like Pennsylvania and New York. They have to be kidding! The sad part is that they are serious, very much so.
The laws will pass, they will be the forerunners of what is to come coast to coast, sports wagering will follow. The time to stake your claim to a piece of that, as much as you can, as the original pioneers heading west in covered wagons did, is now.
Mickey Charles is the President and CEO of The Sports Network. Reprinted with permission of Mickey Charles and iGaming. If you wish to submit your own editorial please contact Bill Beatty.
