Any poker player knows that the action is better at a full table. But it’s starting to look like those in the New Jersey Legislature pushing to bring Internet poker to the state  — as well as sports betting — have been playing solitaire.

At the very least, it would be nice if Atlantic City’s casinos, where all this potential online betting would presumably be based, were at the table.

Reports are breaking today, however, that the New Jersey Casino Association opposes bills in the Legislature to hold a referendum on sports betting and also to allow Internet gambling (read online poker) at A.C. casinos in an intrastate setting, meaning just for New Jersey residents.

According to the Associated Press, the Casino Association says the proposals would violate existing federal bans on sports and online betting. The group also says the plans would primarily benefit offshore gambling websites, not New Jersey’s casinos.

“As the industry seeks to work with government to revitalize the economic engine that the Atlantic City casinos bring to the state of New Jersey, the last thing that the state needs at this time is to undermine the destination resort model by expanding gambling to other parts of the state,” wrote Joe Corbo, casino association president to John Burzichelli, a Democratic state assemblyman who heads a committee on regulatory oversight and gaming.

Proponents of the bills, however, paint a different picture.

On the sports betting referendum, for example, the bill’s sponsors have long said the referendum would simply prepare New Jersey to act quickly should the federal law change.

On intrastate gaming, they believe that federal laws allow a loophole for states that already have casino gaming to offer online betting within their borders. The bill would still locate the gaming in A.C.

The opposition, however,  caused a delay in the Assembly of a review of the referendum bill and could severely impact any chance at passage.

State Senator Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, recently told us the main goal of the bills are  to help New Jersey (through Atlantic City) be the first state to have online gaming.

One of the principal opponents of these moves has been Harrah’s Entertainment, which while owning four A.C. casinos, also owns casinos throughout the country and might not necessarily want New Jersey to be first.

The truth is the whole thing has been a long shot from the start, complicated by federal laws and the realities of the Internet (explain to us how the AC casinos would securely verify Internet users were only from New Jersey, for example).

But it seems like a lot longer shot now.

Tags: Poker headlines. New Jersey Internet poker

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