Ray Lesniak Says Gov. Christie Felt the Pressure from Sheldon Adelson in the Fall of 2014
New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak predicts that PokerStars will make its return to the state in March 2015. He claimed on Twitter that the obstacles which stood in PokerStars way are no longer obstructing their clearance, so licensing should proceed in short order.
This is not the first time Lesniak has predicted a quick return to the New Jersey gaming market for the world’s most popular poker website. In September 2014, Lesniak predicted that PokerStars was “weeks, not months” away from being licensed for operations in the New Jersey online gambling market. At the time, October 1 was a date the poker media reported as a likely date for licensing.
Claims Christie Listened to Adelson
When that failed to materialize, Ray Lesniak blamed Governor Chris Christie for the delay. Christie controls the state bureaucracy, so the Division of Gaming Enforcement delayed licensing for the sake of their executive and his presidential ambitions.
According to Lesniak, Gov. Chris Christie let Sheldon Adelson influence him not to license PokerStars. Sheldon Adelson is the President and founder of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the most profitable land-based gaming company in the world. Adelson doesn’t want the competition, so he wants online gambling outlawed throughout the United States.
RAWA Stood in the Way
At the time, Adelson had U.S. congressmen championing a bill he wanted pass in Washington D.C.: Restore America’s Wire Act. Restore America’s Wire Act, also known as RAWA, would have outlawed online casinos, poker rooms, and sportsbooks throughout all 50 states.
Lesniak told his Twitter followers that Sheldon Adelson asked Gov. Christie to delay licensing, to see if RAWA could be passed during the lame duck session of the US Congress, between elections in early-November and the start of the new year. Because Gov. Christie is a presidential hopeful and Adelson is widely considered to be the biggest donor in America–likely to contribute over $100 million to candidates in 2016–Christie agreed to do Adelson’s bidding.
The Failure of RAWA
In the lame duck session, Adelson’s congressional allies failed to attach Restore America’s Wire Act to another, more popular bill. Now, Lesniak is saying that Adelson’s bill is a dead letter and Governor Christie no longer has his biggest potential donor twisting his arm to block PokerStars.
Lesniak tweeted, “Adelson’s play to ban eGaming in Congress is dead and Poker Stars’ new ownership [is] too formidable to deny.”
Amaya Gaming Has Its Day
Sen. Lesniak is referring to Amaya Gaming, a Toronto-based online gaming software company which paid $5 billion in August 2014 to purchase Rational Group, which itself owns PokerStars and FullTilt Poker. Amaya Gaming’s David Baazov calculated that he would be able to get licensing for PokerStars in the United States, starting with New Jersey.
One of the former owners of PokerStars, Isai Scheinberg, had been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on charges stemming from the Black Friday Scandal of 2010. Those charges had never been resolved to the federal government’s satisfaction, though PokerStars paid over $700 million to have the U.S. government drop its charges against the company itself. Still, the DGE suspended licensing due to the complicated situation involving its executives and the Justice Department, just as California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania have banned or talked of banning PokerStars from their states, due to “bad actor” concerns (and lobbying from potential rivals).
Governor Christie Likely to Support
Governor Christie has been a steady supporter of the Atlantic City casinos and the gaming industry of New Jersey, so it’s reasonable to assume his heart was never in a ban of PokerStars. The company is a proven winner and gamblers prefer to use their website, mainly because the player community is large, any type of game is available at any time of the day, and the prize pools are larger–all due to the bigger players community.
Potential Impact of PokerStars
If PokerStars enters the New Jersey iGaming market, it should only boost the industry. Lesniak says it is only a matter of time–and a short time at that. He claimed in a tweet that the delay at this point was “more due diligence window dressing”. If so, then the New Jersey iGaming revenues should see a significant increase in the near-future. While it might not cure all the ills of New Jersey’s online gambling niche, it could be a turning point.
New Jersey politicians believed the online gaming sector would produce $1 billion in revenues per year. That number in 2014 turned out to be closer to $110 million. PokerStars would boost those numbers immediately, but it could also produce a chain reaction. For instance, New Jersey has discussed with Nevada and the United Kingdom the possibilities of an interstate iPoker contract. If New Jersey has players from PokerStars in their community, that should give them better bargaining power and might spur other states and foreign governments to sign deals with New Jersey. That would help all of the operators in the New Jersey market, while pushing revenues up in a significant way. Maybe $1 billion will never be possible, but the potential exists for much bigger totals than were seen in 2014.
