What initially seemed like a formality, turned out to be a real scare for the US’ oldest online casino market when state lawmakers opposed a 10-year extension of the Garden State’s market.
However, those fears have now been tempered, as Gov. Phil Murphy put pen to paper on A2190 to officially extend New Jersey’s online casino laws until November 2028.
Though just a five-year extension instead of the 10-year agreement many were originally anticipating, it makes for much better reading considering that the Assembly Budget Committee initially wanted to extend the laws for just two years.
It seemed like a formality that New Jersey would re-up the law from 2013 that allowed online casinos for a 10-year period, but politics – as it so often does – got in the way and a deal had to be done between lawmakers.
The Senate Appropriations Committee had passed an identical bill to A2190 that would have extended the online casino law for an additional 10 years. Meanwhile, the Assembly was considering reducing the extension to just two years, though there was no explanation of the key drivers behind this.
With there being a large gap between the Senate and Assembly, talks were undertaken and both sides agreed to compromise at a five-year extension which, of course, will be more welcome to the industry than a two-year re-up, though there will undoubtedly be grumbles that a 10-year extension was not ratified.
After a 76-2 vote in favor of a five-year extension in the Assembly last week, the Senate unanimously agreed as well, sending A2190 over to Gov. Murphy’s desk.
He promptly put pen to paper on the bill, securing the future of the Garden State’s industry until November 2028, and avoiding a nightmare scenario of a shutdown later this year.
