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New Jersey Legalizes Online Gambling

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-ruining-your-life-should-be-as-easy-as-clicking-a-button dept.

schwit1 writes "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill Tuesday legalizing Internet gambling. While the bill only allows Atlantic City casino companies to take online bets, the WSJ believes that those casinos will partner with overseas companies that provide services for online gambling, potentially opening up a bigger market. Furthermore, the bill (PDF) will allow bettors from other states to gamble online, so long as regulators determine that the activity isn't prohibited by any federal or state laws. They included setting a 10-year trial period for online betting, and raising the taxes on the Atlantic City casinos' online winnings from 10 to 15 percent. New Jersey became the third state in the nation to legalize gambling over the Internet. Nevada and Delaware have passed laws legalizing Internet betting, which also is going on offshore, untaxed and unregulated."

14 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. remember sim city? by crutchy · · Score: 4, Informative

    in sim city (i think 2000 or something) enacting the "legalize gambling" ordinance was usually a sign that you were running out of money

    1. Re:remember sim city? by jamesh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It ain't gambling unless the odds of winning or losing and equal

      gambling, n - An activity characterised by a balance between winning and losing that is governed by a mixture of skill and chance.

      What imaginary dictionary have you been consulting? I checked a bunch and none said that the odds of winning and losing must be equal...

      I wish Australia would make online gambling legal, for foreigners only.

    2. Re:remember sim city? by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Informative

      It ain't gambling unless the odds of winning or losing and equal

      From the point of view of the UK gambling commission your definition is completely the wrong way round. Things like workplace sweepstakes and lotteries can be run without registering as gambling as long asall the money collected is paid out in prises, i.e. the organiser cannot make a profit.

    3. Re:remember sim city? by MrMickS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Balance is not the same as equal. There is balance across the different outcomes, however the chance of each outcome is not equal. The balance is provided by factoring in the odds offered for each outcome. A less likely outcome will offer better odds.

      --
      You may think me a tired, old, cynic. I'd have to disagree about the tired bit.
    4. Re:remember sim city? by Rockoon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A zero-sum game is where each participant expects neither to win nor to lose in the long run

      Umm, no.

      Thats called a fair game. To qualify as a zero-sum game, the only requirement is that for every play of the game that the sum of all wins is the same as the sum of all losses.

      All casino games are zero-sum, but none of them are fair games.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
  2. All well and good, but... by tmach · · Score: 2

    Online gambling (with maybe the exception of a couple of states) has never been illegal in the US. However, it IS illegal for US banks to do business with online casinos under a law passed nearly ten years ago. That's a federal law that hasn't been repealed, so how are people supposed to deposit money in accounts with these Jersey casinos?

    1. Re:All well and good, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bitcoins

    2. Re:All well and good, but... by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Online gambling (with maybe the exception of a couple of states) has never been illegal in the US. However, it IS illegal for US banks to do business with online casinos under a law passed nearly ten years ago. That's a federal law that hasn't been repealed, so how are people supposed to deposit money in accounts with these Jersey casinos?

      Easy. The banks do business with the actual Jersey brick and mortar casino, which then transfers the money to the online casino (taking their small cut along the way). That's the whole reason the Atlantic City casinos are partnering with the foreign online casinos to start with, instead of wanting to take advantage of the lockout on the foreign groups and having the entire U.S. online gambling market to divide up with the Nevada and Delaware operators.

    3. Re:All well and good, but... by rahvin112 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People keep saying this. If there was no legal uncertainty Wynn Corporation, MGM and all the other big gaming companies would have been doing it 10 year ago. Gaming over state lines was made illegal in the days of Al Capone. People keep arguing that those statues don't apply because it's the internet rather than telephones (which is frankly an asinine argument). Personally I think the fact that every major gaming house refuses to bet across state lines as better evidence of the reality.

      Nevada legalized online gaming, but only in the state of Nevada (you have to be in the state of Nevada to place a wager online and they check it rigorously). I wouldn't be surprised if Jersey does the same thing because frankly they start taking bets online (across state lines) and they are going to have warrants issued in the states that don't allow it and I can guarantee that Utah will be one of them. Any corporation willing to game across state lines better be prepared to have their executives spend some time in jail.

      I'm certain that the probability of legal online gambling in the US across state lines is zero. It's been illegal and will continue to be illegal because the states that don't allow gambling will always have the number of votes they need in congress to prevent it. I personally believe this is nothing more Cristie trying to save Atlantic City from collapse by trying to milk gaming addicts across state lines and he's going to fail when the feds come down and say you can't do it across state lines. And if he pushes it this will end any national political career chances. People in states with legal gaming have NO idea big of an issue this is in states that don't allow gaming.

    4. Re:All well and good, but... by captainpanic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      However, it IS illegal for US banks to do business with online casinos under a law passed nearly ten years ago.

      Ironic that the biggest gamblers are not allowed to do business with legalized gambling institutions.

    5. Re:All well and good, but... by greg1104 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      US banks don't gamble. When their trades pay off, they pay executives with the proceeds. When they don't, they get a government bailout. Gamble implies some possibility of a loss.

    6. Re:All well and good, but... by way2trivial · · Score: 2

      "Cristie trying to save Atlantic City from collapse"

      edit mine,
      Christie is trying to save the casinos,
      this should kill the town....

      Being first, Atlantic City had a lot of business, and it came hand in hand with a lot of stranglehold regulation......

      now that it's much more commonplace regionally, and the regulation is not so onerous say, in Philadelphia.. those locales are both 'newer' and not so stodgy.. The margin left over after the governmental regulations in place makes other areas a lot more profitable, edgy, and appealing.

      Having to build a 500 room hotel (AC), vs a poker & slot room only... (PA)

      When AC was it, short of Nevada or international venues, of course people flocked here...
        when they didn't have to travel as far, people didn't...

      I live 10 miles away... I go out (sans gambling) in the casinos.. it's different than it was 20 years ago.

      A casino just sold for 20 million..
      gads-- I could buy 10 decent hotels for that....

      --
      every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  3. I always thought online gambling was dumb... by apcullen · · Score: 2

    After all, since everything is virtual, it's impossible to tell if the game is fair!

    I'm not sure legal and regulated will translate into fair, but it's gotta be closer to it than the offshore sites. Right?

    1. Re:I always thought online gambling was dumb... by Bigby · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree. However, online gambling with Atlantic City will fall under a gaming regulation organization. That doesn't mean it will be a fair, as in free from fraud. But at least there are measures and penalties with teeth if there is fraud. There is a major disincentive for an Atlantic City casino to not monitor their own online gambling applications.

      That said, I would never gamble online outside of results that are determined outside the computer...like sports betting. In a casino, I never gamble with machines. Even then, I am subject to potential fraud. But in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, I am not worried about fraud on table games. The game is in their favor and with the penalties of try to make it MORE in their favor are just not worth it to them.