New Jersey Legislature approves online gambling bill

10 January 2011

By Vin Narayanan

The New Jersey Assembly voted 63-11 to allow Atlantic City casino operators to offer online gambling to New Jersey residents. The bill, passed the New Jersey Senate 29-5 in November, and is headed to the Gov. Chris Christie's desk for his signature. If the Republican governor signs the bill into law, New Jersey would become the first state to license and regulate online gambling the U.S.

The bill, authored by Sen. Raymond Lesniak, authorizes the online offering of "poker, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, craps, big six wheel, slot machines, minibaccarat (sic), red dog, pai gow, and sic bo; any variations or composites of such games, provided that such variations or composites, and any above listed game or variation or composite of such game to be offered through Internet wagering."

The bill also specifies that Internet gambling operators have to be licensed Atlantic City casino operators, and that all equipment used to conduct Internet gaming be located either in Atlantic City casinos or a "secure" location in Atlantic City.

Vin Narayanan

Vin Narayanan is the former managing editor at Casino City and has been involved in the gaming industry for over a decade Vin is currently based in Hong Kong, where he runs his own consultant group and works as head of gaming and public relations for Mega Digital
Entertainment Group.

Before joining Casino City, Vin covered (not all at the same time) sports, politics and elections, wars, technology, celebrities and the Census for USATODAY.com, USA WEEKEND and CNN.