Today is a historic day in which online scratch card players and online sports betting fans will remember. More good news for the online gambling world coming out of New Jersey. As we have been reporting New Jersey is among the leaders in their fight to enable scratchcards players to play from the U.S.
Until now scratchcards and online sports betting was a right for those outside of the U.S. With the new developments it seems closer than ever that U.S. online scratch card players will enjoy the fun and winning excitement of instant jackpots from their borders of their own country.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a historic bill into law on Tuesday which legalizes sports betting in the state but only on condition that the federal ban on sports betting is overturned. We hope that this will soon be extended to Scratchcards and other online casino games too.
The bill passed with an easy majority in both houses of the state and legislature. The effect of this ground breaking bill means that it will be legal to bet on professional and collegiate sports events at all the four state’s horse tracks and at the Atlantic City casinos.
The real battle starts now as their needs to be a court action to overturn the overall federal ban on sports betting in all but four states. New Jersey has the chance to overturn the federal law in court or by congress and thereby enable all 50 states to join the world of online sports betting.
Sen. Ray Lesniak, one of the biggest supports for online casino gambling legalization stated, ” This is the beginning of the end for the unfair, discriminatory and unwise federal ban on sports betting. It has failed to curb the public’s desire to bet on sporting events. Indeed, betting on sports has increased exponentially since the ban passed Congress.”
One of the key factors that gave a boost to this initiative was a referendum held in November where New Jersey residents voted by a margin of 2 to 1 in favor of legalizing sports betting. Imagine a Scratchcards referendum where we scratched away our winning vote 🙂 Now that would be something to see !
Other supports of the new bill such as Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, an Essex County Democrat said, “New Jersey voters made clear they want sports wagering, and this law will handle it in a responsible and professional fashion. It does the right thing for New Jersey, and will ensure our racetracks and casinos remain competitive. Our job isn’t done, but this is great economic progress for our state.”
A lot of people believe that the new law for online casino betting is essential as people are gambling any way and the current income is going to organized crime, illegal bookies and offshore web sites. The new bill will enable New Jersey to implement a regulated and legal sports gaming network which would benefit the state and its citizens.
Scratchcards have provided unbelievable revenues to the state coffers recently in the United Kingdom and all over Europe and governments have not missed the opportunity in this financial crisis to reap the benefits from online scratch card, slots machines, sports betting, online bingo and all other forms of online casino gaming. Recently the Spanish and Italian governments as well as in Serbia have woken up and are taking full advantage of the social benefits that online casino revenue generate. As we speak now the traditional Scratchcards are available in every corner store and it makes one wonder how ridiculous this is that U.S. players are not allowed to play online scratch card or online slot machines games.
This is not the first time that Lesniak has tried to legalize sports betting. He tried suing the U.S. government over the 1992 federal law and the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) which limits legalizes sports betting only four states. New Jersey considered such a law but never passed it leaving only Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana with legalized sports betting.
With the signing of the new law by Gov. Christie Lesniak believes that the momentum is with him as he has the backing of the legislature and the voters’ referendum to back him. Lets hope that this momentum will carry on and spill over in the Online Scratch Card and slot machine markets too.
Lesniak described his legal plans in a colorful sporting manner,” Our Attorney General already has the legal arguments to blow a bigger hole through the federal ban than San Francisco 49ers’ Anthony Davis could to the Giants defensive line,”
There have been various studies done over the years which estimate legal and illegal sports betting at over $380 billion industry and current supports of sports betting believe that it is now close to $500 billion which at the moment is going untaxed and unregulated.
The tax benefits of legalized sports betting would be a massive 8% rate on their gambling winnings .An additional 1.25% levy would be funneled to a development fund aimed at building Atlantic City projects.
It is hard to believe that only a few months ago, online scratch card players in the U.S. never dreamt that they would get the chance to play online scratchgames in the U.S. The pace at which the current situation is changing can only be described as unbelievable.
As we have said before, there is nothing that can stop the scratchcards ,slot machines and global casino movement coming to the U.S. and we will continue bringing you the latest updates as they unfold.