2 articles in my NJ Sunday paper today on sports gambling

Money flowing out of N.J. can be kept here

"I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

Truer words were never spoken than this famous line from one of the greatest movies of all time -- Casablanca.
Open the sports pages of any newspaper or listen to or watch any sports show on the radio or TV to find out the "line" or the "over/under" and the multitude of opinions on the best bet.
Captain Renault wasn't fooling anyone and neither is the NFL in opposing legalized sports betting, except the federal government, which deprives New Jersey of the revenues from sports betting that are now going to Las Vegas, Delaware and the local bookie who is often hooked up with organized crime.
The same is true for online gaming likewise prohibited by federal law. New Jersey has 500,000 registered online poker players. Who's profiting from their gambling? Offshore operations. Foreign companies and foreign countries. Sound stupid? You bet it is (pun intended).
When the Denver Broncos played the San Francisco 49ers last month in London, bets were taken across the street from the stadium, but not in the United States, unless you were in Las Vegas or Delaware. More stupidity.
Everyone seems to be taking this lying down -- including our governor. Either they don't care enough or believe its too difficult to fight against the federal government. Not me. Not this kid of Polish ancestry who grew up in the toughest sections of Elizabeth. I had to learn to fight for what was right and I haven't forgotten those lessons.
Club CalNeva, a Las Vegas-based company which operates over 30 sports books and handles billions of dollars in bets estimates that sports betting will bring in $1.3 billion in gross wagering revenues and $120 million in tax revenues for New Jersey. That's $1.3 billion of gross profits for our casinos and racetracks, creating and keeping thousands of jobs and attracting tourists to Atlantic City and the Jersey shore.
That's a lot of jobs, a lot of profits for New Jersey businesses, and a lot of revenue for the state.
And that's why I have filed a lawsuit in federal district court to overturn the federal ban on sports betting which gives an unfair and unconstitutional advantage to Nevada and Delaware at the expense of New Jersey and other states. Constitutional law authorities at George Washington, Vanderbilt, Willamette and Whittier law schools agree that the federal ban violates the Fifth, 10th and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution and its Commerce Clause. Even the Justice Department had doubts on the legality of the sports betting ban and expressed its concern in a letter to then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe Biden.

And that's why I've also sponsored legislation to legalize online gaming, limited exclusively to New Jersey residents, to avoid the federal ban on interstate Internet gaming. Econsult, nationally recognized for its economic analysis of government operations, estimates the gross revenues to our casinos from this legislation will exceed $200 million with at least $30 million going into our state treasury, and $16 million going to programs to benefit seniors and the disabled in the Garden State.I'm talking about found money; cash that's now going to Las Vegas or Delaware, to offshore companies and foreign countries, or to organized crime, being captured by New Jersey businesses to create profits, jobs and revenues for our residents and our state. It doesn't get any better than that.



State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, is chairman of the state Senate Economic Growth Committee.

State can't rush into legalized online gaming

The New Jersey Legislature's rush to salvage Atlantic City's casino industry from competition from Pennsylvania and other states that has devoured a third of its market share now includes sports and Internet gambling.


Putting aside that under federal law full sports betting is illegal in virtually every state except Nevada, as is Internet gambling, and putting aside whether either would require amending the state Constitution -- and noting that pending legislation permits only intrastate Internet wagers or Internet wagers from foreign jurisdictions -- would these expansions of gambling be the salvation of Atlantic City's gambling market?
No, they would not. Sports betting clearly would be an incremental benefit. Internet gambling, is an unknown except that what the Legislature should consider but seems to be ignoring is that it raises not only business issues but profound legal, regulatory, moral and ethical questions that deserve much consideration before enacting a law that can put a casino in every home in New Jersey.
Sports betting is like bread and milk in supermarkets. It gets people in the door, always the objective of a retail business and casinos are retail businesses. In and of itself, it will not produce vast new revenue. In Nevada during 2009, gamblers bet $2.57 billion on sports of which the casinos kept $136 million -- 5.3 percent. Would New Jersey's casinos welcome that much new revenue? Of course, but more than that, they would welcome sports bettors who would wager at the casinos' other games, eat in their restaurants, see their shows, shop in their stores and stay in their hotels.
But, in the unlikely event Congress passes and the president signs a law legalizing sports betting, it won't be unique to New Jersey. Expect it in every state that has commercial or Indian casinos including, Atlantic City's competitors. That will dilute the benefit.
Ironically, the bill to allow intrastate Internet gambling puts the regulatory responsibility chiefly on the Casino Control Commission at the same time other legislation barreling toward passage all but dismantles that agency and disembowels regulatory accountability that would be more essential than ever to control what may lie beyond real control, gambling through the ethers.

As a business proposition, does anyone know whether Internet wagering would be incremental or reduce wagering and traffic in the casinos? Is something sold online something that would have been sold in a store or something that never would have been bought otherwise? Will Internet wagering reduce real casino visits and strand more of the casino industry's capital investment, discourage new capital investment or cause further reductions in on-site employment?


And what of the moral and ethical, as well as legal, questions inherent in making it possible to gamble any day, every day, all day from wherever you are in New Jersey, even on mobile devices? Or don't we care about things like that anymore?
The legislation is replete with extensive requirements that need a full set of new regulations concerning how wagering can be offered controlled and accounted, but legislators are not regulators and leave the messy complexity of regulations to others and Internet gambling could be a real mess. The enormous potential for social and economic harm and criminal activity inherent in Internet gambling; the heightened potential for cheating; the explicit need for the tightest systems of internal and accounting controls, and that the legislation essentially is limited to New Jersey make this a dubious proposition of questionable benefit to Atlantic City.
If something ever needed long, thoughtful, comprehensive examination it is Internet gambling. Equally with what it will do for Atlantic City the question ought to be what it would do to New Jersey and the nearly 9 million people who live here.
Carl Zeitz served as a member of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission from 1980 to 1988.

We just need one event, one place, one person to open the door in which it will then spread.

We're getting closer and closer....

Is this from the AC Press? Can you send me a link?

Hache Man said:

We just need one event, one place, one person to open the door in which it will then spread.

We're getting closer and closer....

Click to expand...

thats what i keep thinking too....just get the door open, and they'll see the world doesnt come to an end

From what I hear it is going to be put on the ballot to be voted on by the populous. Should be interesting.

VIEJO DINOSAUR said:

Is this from the AC Press? Can you send me a link?

Click to expand...

Nope. The Courier Post. A South Jersey newspaper.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/

still got a hard time seeing this spread any time soon even if ac gets it.

If it weren't for the mob, Joisey would have had sports gambling a long, long time ago.