Online Poker Regulation Passes - In New Jersey

The New Jersey State Legislature passed an online poker bill today that will make online poker legal in New Jersey casinos.  The vote was 63 to 11 and the bill is awaiting the signature of Gov. Chris Christie to become law.



What this means is the following:

1.  Players in the state of New Jersey can play online poker from hubs in Atlantic City casinos.

2.  Players will only be able to play against other players within state lines in Atlantic City casinos.

3.  Sites such as PokerStars and Full Tilt will likely pull out of New Jersey.

Once this law goes into effect, the AC casinos will definitely benefit from the revenue brought in from the online players.  The downside is that players will have a significantly reduced player pool to play against and that they will have to go to the casino in order to legally play online.

While I am not a legal expert, it is entirely possibly that for many states, this is the only way they will ever see true online poker regulation.  Congress will likely not be voting on this for at least the next two years, and maybe longer should the Republicans win the White House in 2012.

Of course, chances are poker will never be legal in my home state.  I happen to live in Virginia.  At least AC is only 6 hours away.