March 16 2012, Matthew Kredell
Although legislation to license and regulate Internet gambling did not pass through the state legislature Thursday as he had projected, New Jersey State Sen. Raymond Lesniak said that he still expects Internet poker to be up and running in the Garden State by September.
Lesniak said the reason for the delay was that technical amendments from Gov. Chris Christie’s office on issues such as licensing procedure weren’t finished until Wednesday. He said that would have been enough time for him to push the bill through in the state senate Thursday but was not enough time to get it through the state assembly.
“We’re going to have to work harder and faster to get the regulations and licenses issued, that’s all,” Lesniak said Thursday in a phone interview. “We’ll still have it done by September. That can still be reached for sure. I was being conservative in saying it would be done by September.”
Lesniak, who sponsors the bill that would allow Atlantic City casinos to host online poker sites within the state, was hoping to get the legislation passed before the New Jersey legislature spends the next week focusing on the state budget.
He said that he will get the amended bill released from senate budget committee on March 27 and expects the legislation to pass through both houses of the state legislature in the first half of April.
Lesniak told PokerNews last week that Gov. Christie, who vetoed a similar bill last year, would sign it this time around.
While the previous legislation would have allowed for Internet gambling only within state borders, Lesniak expects that the Justice Department’s opinion that the Wire Act does not apply to online poker will allow for New Jersey to form compacts with other states. These states would be interested in receiving revenue from their residents playing online poker while leaving the regulatory duties to a state experienced in gambling regulation.
Nevada, which has already approved regulations and begun taking applications for licenses, has a head start on New Jersey to become the first state with regulated online poker.
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March 05 2012, Brett Collson
We see you’ve made it through the weekend. Now it’s back to the daily grind. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we bring you New Jersey’s latest talks regarding online gaming, a ridiculous prop bet involving Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandirai, and more.
In Case You Missed It
How did the Sunday Majors play out on PokerStars? Who took home the biggest win? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.
We all know what poker players do on the felt, but what about in “normal” life? In the latest from the Off the Felt series, we talk to Kara Scott about pick-up lines, photography, and more.
Did you miss Sunday’s World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.
How did Team PokerStars Sports Star Fatima Moreira de Melo get her start in poker? Find out that and more in the latest edition of Seat Open.
New Jersey Discusses Online Gaming
On Monday, Senate and Assembly panels in New Jersey discussed a pair of revised bills that would open the door for legalized gaming within state borders. The bills, first introduced by Sen. Ray Lesniak last year, received support from the Senate panel on Monday, but the Assembly did not vote during a separate hearing.
Last year, the New Jersey legislature passed similar bills to legalize online gambling but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the measure, citing “legal and constitutional concerns.”
However, Christie’s stance changed last December when the Department of Justice reversed its interpretation of the Wire Act of 1961.
“I think New Jersey should be in that business,” Christie said in a press conference in January. “I think we should be an epicenter for that business, but I want to do it right. I do not want to rush and get legislation that either doesn’t pass state constitutional muster, or creates other problems for us.”
Read more at NorthJersey.com.
Antonio Takes a Cold Bath
They may be best friends, but Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari take great pleasure in causing emotional pain to one another. Esfandiari is the first to admit Laak has “run well” against him in that department. “The Unabomber” added another conquest over his friend this past weekend.
Laak won a last-longer bet against Esfandiari during the inaugural Laak and Esfandiari Open at Montreal’s Playground Poker Club. Laak’s triumph in the $2,200 heads-up event gave him rights to humiliate Esfandiari in front of everyone at the casino. We’ll let the following video tell the rest of the story:
WSOP National Championship Added to ESPN Coverage
Before the start of the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit tour, the WSOP announced a big change to the format of the WSOP National Championship. The top 100 performers from WSOP and WSOP Europe events during the past two calendar years would be allowed to buy into the event for $10,000 to compete against the top 100 performers from the 2011-12 WSOP Circuit season.
On Monday, the WSOP announced the 100 players eligible to take part in the event. Michael Mizrachi, Ben Lamb, Jason Mercier, and many more of poker’s top talents will have a chance to buy into the event for a chance at a gold bracelet and more than $1 million in prizes.
“This marks the first time we will take the best of the best from all our events to compete against one another to determine a true WSOP National Champion,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart.
The three-day event will be filmed by ESPN and aired as part of the WSOP coverage later this year. For more information, read the story at PokerNews.com.
Obrestad Wynns
The 2012 Wynn Classic $5,170 Main Event is still a week away, but the prelim events have attracted several of the top pros in and around Las Vegas during the past two weeks. Notables like Annette Obrestad, Joe Kuether and Ken Lenaard have landed in the winner’s circle, and more than $600,000 has been awarded over the first seven events.
Here’s a look at the champs thus far:
