Senator: “I Hesitate to Venture a Guess”

Ray Lesniak Said in July 2015 He Would Not Run for Re-Election, But He Might Run for Governor

New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak once again has predicted his state is going to approve PokerStars for an online gaming license, this time in a Cardplayer interview. Sen. Lesniak, who may be running for governor of New Jersey in 2017, has made the same prediction on two other occasions.

In the recent interview, the long time state senator and proponent of gambling said, “I just think that every single rock has been overturned and looked at, and scoped thoroughly, and there is really nothing more to do than to make a decision.”

Lesniak Conjectures on Licensing

This time, it would appear that Lesniak is engaged in conjecture, though a senator might be in the position to have privileged information, even if he is a Democrat dealing with a Republican administration. He also might be calling for approval, only to criticize the administration at a later date. If so, it would not be the first time.

The first time Sen. Lesniak predicted approval for a PokerStars license was in September 2014, just a month after the poker site was bought by Amaya Gaming. He said at the time he had heard approval would come as early as October 1st of 2014. When that did not materialize, he was critical of Gov. Chris Christie for his delays.

Criticism of Gov. Christie

In an interview in November 2014, he suggested that the Republican governor was playing politics in order to please a big donor, Sheldon Adelson. Adelson, who is chairman of the Las Vegas Sands casino gaming company, was pushing Restore America’s Wire Act in the US Congress, which would have banned online gambling at the federal level.

At the time, Lesniak criticized the governor when he said, “Christie just giving Adelson time during Congressional lame duck session to kill Egaming.”

Nothing came of the bill in the lame duck session of Congress (December 2014), after Republican Sen. Jim Sessions declined to push the bill through committeee. It was widely assumed the bill did not have the votes to pass, anyway.

Resorts Casino’s Decision

In February 2015, Ray Lesniak once again predicted PokerStars would be licensed soon. At the time, he suggested that licensing might happen as early as March 1. Once again, nothing materialized.

Instead, the Atlantic City casino which has a partnership deal with PokerStars, Resorts Casino, signed with NYX and Sportech to launch an online gaming portal. Such a decision signalled Resorts Casino had lost patience with the process and was going in another direction, though it holds out hope to partner with the world’s biggest poker website, if licensing ever happens.

Throughout the summer, Amaya Gaming CEO David Baazov has predicted the poker site could gain licensing in the near-future. In July 2015, Baazov predicted a license approval could come from the Division of Gaming Enforcement as early as October 2015.

David Baazov Predictions

That information seems to dovetail with Ray Lesniak’s latest suggestion, which gives online poker players in the Garden State the hope of gambling on the PokerStars platform in the very near future.

Lesniak’s proposal sounds very conditional the third time around. In fact, he appears to be saying the state should license the company, but he is hesitant to make a prediction this time.

Quote from Ray Lesniak

A further quote from the Cardplayer interview with Ray Lesniak read: “I hesitate to venture a guess because the information I’ve gotten over the past year has not passed, but I continue to hear that it will very likely happen in short order.”

Recently, the senator suggested he might run for New Jersey governor in 2017. He stated he plans to wait until after the 2016 presidential election to make a final decision. Though Gov. Chris Christie cannot run due to term limitations, the Democrat likely wants to see what the political landscape looks like before making a decision. Also, he has stated he wants to see what the polls look like.

For his part, keeping the PokerStars story in the headlines is a smart move. Not only can he keep the pressure to see a sensible and pragmatic decision made by the DGE, but he also keeps the door open for complaints if his predictions do not come to fruition. In the end, Lesniak appears to be exasperated by the lack of decision, which is an emotion many gamblers no doubt also feel.