New Jersey assembly under fire for new online racetrack legislation

The approval by the New Jersey House of Assembly earlier this (December) month of a proposal that casino gambling via the internet be permitted has come in for some flak from the media, which reminds lawmakers that New Jersey residents overwhelmingly rejected the idea of expanded casino gambling beyond Atlantic City last year in a referendum.

The proposer of the new measure, Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, has worked around the referendum by specifying that such racetrack casino gambling may only be conducted via servers located in Atlantic City, which some media reports have suggested is merely a “fig-leaf” to conceal de facto expanded gambling beyond the confines of the New Jersey gambling enclave.

The Caputo bill would allow each racetrack to open a slots parlour with no limit on the number of machines. Racetracks could offer live casino table games — also unlimited by the bill — as long as the dealer was in Atlantic City and appeared on a video screen.

The Casino Association of New Jersey has rejected the bill as “an affront to the residents of this state who have clearly voted against the very activity it seeks to permit.”

Caputo’s bill could come up against strong resistance in the state Senate, where Senate President Stephen Sweeney said recently that casino gambling expansion “was crushed” in the referendum and won’t happen during his tenure.

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