NJ iGaming Bill Pushes For International Shared Liquidity Agreement

New Jersey signed an agreement in October that will allow it to share online poker liquidity with Nevada and Delaware, the only other states to have a licensed online poker industry in America. Since then, Pennsylvania jumped on the online gambling bandwagon by passing a bill that made it the fourth state to legalize online gambling in the country.

There is no time precise time frame as to when Pennsylvania will launch its online gambling industry nor is there an exact date as to when online poker liquidity operations between New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada will go live. The general consensus is that it will take place during the first half of 2018 but no official confirmation has been provided till date.

New Jersey is taking things are step further as Senator Raymond Lesniak has introduced iGaming Bill S3536 that pushes for internet gaming equipment to be located outside Atlantic City.

This is a reference to online gambling servers that can be hosted outside of Atlantic City and would then facilitate international online poker liquidity.

Here is a portion of what the bill has to say

The provisions in this act, P.L. c. (C.) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), permitting Internet gaming equipment to be located outside of the territorial boundaries of Atlantic City if necessary to facilitate the conduct of international wagering, would increase the economic benefit of Internet gaming to Atlantic City and to this State

New Jersey has entertained the possibility in the past of partnering with international markets to develop its online gambling industry. There were reports floating around that New Jersey was in talks with the United Kingdom (UK) about a potential shared liquidity agreement but that fell through.

One of the reasons why this international poker liquidity arrangement did not work out was because David Rebuck, the director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) said that have internet gaming servers restricted to Atlantic City was a huge challenge to international liquidity. The new bill looks to address this challenge and should it be cleared, New Jersey will be in a position to tie up with international markets.

Bill S3536 has already received support from the NJDGE and does not appear to have any controversial clauses in it. The bill will have to clear the state's Senate and House of Representatives before getting final approval from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.