PokerStars' NJ Approval Stymied by Sheldon Adelson

9 years ago
PokerStars' NJ Approval Stymied by Sheldon Adelson
22:09
12 Nov

While the virtual red carpet was rolled out for PokerStars by Senator Raymond Lesniak and regulators at the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) a few months ago, Sheldon Adelson remains the bouncer who is closely manning the velvet ropes.

Does an 81-year-old billionaire have the strength to keep the online poker giant on the wrong side of the velvet ropes and delay their entry into the online gambling party in New Jersey? Apparently, yes.

All indications are that PokerStars will not be launching an online poker and gambling site in New Jersey in 2014. That was all but confirmed when Lesniak tweeted the following on Monday -

Poker Stars in time out because they would boost AC and hurt Adelson's attempt in Congress to shut down Egaming."

Back in June, DGE Director David Rebuck told AP that he could envision Amaya receiving approval for PokerStars to be up and running by fall. He admitted to being "encouraged" by the sale of PokerStars to Amaya "and the expanded opportunities" that could be realized in New Jersey's igaming regime.

That encouragement has seemingly been replaced by discouragement, brought about by an elderly casino honcho bent on preventing U.S. players from playing regulated online poker. The word on the street is that Adelson is pushing for the lame duck Congress to approve a ban on Internet gambling as proposed by the Graham/Chaffetz bill introduced in March.

So PokerStars will apparently have to wait to enter New Jersey while Adelson throws his weight (money) around in an effort to further his anti-online gambling agenda.


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Charles is a Chicago native and long time poker player who dusted off his journalism degree and began writing about poker following the events of Black Friday in 2011. He has written for a number of leading poker websites, offering his insights and expertise on subjects ranging from online poker leg...Read more

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