The first state and federal online gambling bill passed Senate in an effort by New Jersey to bring the ball home

Within the state of New York, the New Jersey Senate Wagering and Tourism committee cleared a bill that would allow legalized online poker and casino gambling within the state. The prophecy that Joe Brennan, Chairman of iMEGA made earlier this February may in fact come to pass.

It is the first bill to pass by any Senate or House committee in regards to online gambling at either a state or a federal level. The bill was only introduced in the Senate in January of 2010 and so it is clear that the movement to legalizing online gambling is making fast strides in becoming reality.

At the hearing legislators were informed of the dire financial position that the Atlantic City land casinos are in and that the only way to survive is by being allowed to create online gambling sites. New Jersey agrees too that if the bill passed, the state of New Jersey would benefit greatly too by bringing in at least $200 million in additional revenue.

The passing of the bill would open up 1,500 high tech jobs in the southern region of the state. It is proposed that the online gambling network would employ state of the art software to ensure that only New Jersey customers would be able to access the online gaming websites.

The horse betting sector is up in arms claiming that such a bill would badly hurt their business revenues if horse betting became legalized and also if online casinos and online poker rooms were available for gamblers online. Their arguments were turned down along with the hit of having racetrack gaming facilities venues removed.

The Senators on the committee approved the bill by 3 votes to 1 after hearing both sides of the argument.

Federal law has thus given New Jersey the window of opportunity to devise a strategy for an online-gaming business model. 

It has been suggested that setting up Internet gaming companies head quarters around Atlantic City is the best bet for technical support and data storage with Brennan saying that, "New Jersey will be able to position itself as the national and potential global capital of the next gaming industry."