James Hurley, chairman of the casino commission, said he’s inclined to oppose the measure, saying public policy issues must first be fleshed out.
“It at least calls for an interpretation, because the constitutional amendment (that allowed casino gambling) was pretty specific,” Hurley said.
State Sen. William Gormley, R-Atlantic, said he’ll fight the bill because it does not fulfill casino-gambling’s constitutional purpose of redeveloping Atlantic City.
“This was all about rebuilding a town, restoring it to a resort destination, not about using Atlantic City’s goodwill as a mechanism for Internet gambling,” Gormley said.
Asked about the bill’s chances of becoming law, Gormley said: “It would have to go through the Judiciary Committee of the Senate.”
Gormley chairs that committee.
“The idea, in general, is good because I think there’s really no choice whether there will be Internet casinos or not,” said Mark Balestra, editor of Interactive Gaming News in St. Charles, Mo.
“There are only two options with Internet gambling: regulation and prohibition, and regulation is the better of the two because prohibition is not enforceable,” he said.
That said, Balestra predicted the bill would fail. “I don’t know that they’re ready for that,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, a strong supporter of the $4.3 billion Atlantic City casino industry, is a staunch opponent of Internet gambling. He has previously cosponsored House companion bills to the Kyl Bill, a Senate measure that would ban Internet gambling.
LoBiondo declined comment Friday, his spokeswoman said.
Internet gambling is flourishing outside of the United States. There are about 1,400 online gambling sites, 810 of which offer casino-style games, Balestra said.
Online gambling revenue, estimated at $2.2 billion last year, is projected to be $6.3 billion by 2003, according to analyst Sebastian Sinclair of Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC.
Internet gambling is not expressly prohibited by federal law but authorities contend that it’s a violation of the 1961 Interstate Wire Act, which prohibits gambling by phone or wire.
Numerous online gambling companies have set up operations in the Caribbean and Central America to avoid U.S. consequences.
Some countries, such as Australia, actively regulate online casinos but some others do little more than issue a license, observers say.
“You have to understand that we’d be regulating something that already exists — and something that exists in a horrible fashion,” Impreveduto said. “In my opinion, anyone who gambles on the Internet right now is nuts. They have no idea what they’re getting into.”
Whether the New Jersey bill would need clearance at the federal level remains to be seen. If the Kyl Bill were to pass, it would kill the possibility in New Jersey, Balestra said.
“It’s going to be fun,” Impreveduto said.
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