The approval of the proposal, aimed at making the sports betting activities in New Jersey legal, was not too surprising to those who keep a close eye on the turn of events.
Yesterday, 73 members of the state authorities gave their positive vote to the legislation bill. There were only 4 members of the Assembly who were against the legislation procedures. The sports betting bill would give players the opportunity to freely make sports bets in casinos. The decision of the Assembly was supported by a great part of the Senate members as well. In order to become officially valid, the bill had to be signed by the New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie.
During the legislation process, Christie was not willing to reveal much about his intentions. However, he asked for two changes in the legislation bill, which meant that he regarded the procedure as something serious that requires his attention.
The existing laws allow Christie to reconsider his decision within 45 days.
A few months ago, the Governor disapproved of a bill that resembles the current one. It seems like Christie changed his mind and suddenly decided that the sports betting legislation is a an amenity, worthy of imposing.
As far as the current bill is concerned, a representative of Christie said that the Governor is carefully scrutinizing all advantages and disadvantages of the legislation.
Ray Lesniak, the New Jersey’s Senator, introduced the bill with the aim of supporting Christie’s attempts to make the Judge Michael Shipp formulate his standpoint about the 2013 injunction and clarify if it caused some parts of the sports betting legislation become invalid.
Christie considered the legislation, that was discussed two years ago, to have had a negative impact on the development of the local betting industry.
The Judge was supposed to hear the arguments of the New Jersey authorities and the opponents – the sports leagues, in the last day of October but things slightly changed and the hearing was rescheduled for November 21st.
In case Christie signs the bill, the clarity request he made towards the Judge will be useless. Another alternative is waiting for Shipp’s decision and signing the bill after the court hearing.
If Christie signs the bill right away, William Hill will be enabled to start operating and accepting bets from NFL players.
Operators interested in getting acquainted with the outcome are getting more and more impatient but nevertheless, they settled around the idea of waiting until Christie finishes his quest.
The 45-day period, lawfully given to Christie, expires on Saturday and the operators want to start providing sports betting activities legally on the next day. However, people familiar with the matter announced that another delay should be expected.
