New Jersey was the first state in the nation to exercise its right under the Tenth Amendment to allow residents to legally participate in online gaming. In the crazy world of Washington, DC, this right is now being stripped away by a billionaire Las Vegas casino owner.
New Jersey’s Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) can stop it.
Sheldon Adelson, the owner of the Sands Casino empire, has spent millions lobbying Congress to have the federal government overturn New Jersey’s law. His allies have introduced legislation in successive Congresses called RAWA, the Restore America’s Wire Act, that would prohibit states from legalizing online gaming and the online sale of lottery tickets. The fact that he has Republicans, some of whom to claim to be supporters of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment, carrying his water is mind-boggling.
After hitting several roadblocks, it now appears Adelson and his lobbying team are targeting congressional spending bills, hoping to hook a ride on must-pass legislation. Next week, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to consider an amendment from Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent that would give Adelson everything he ever wanted.
That is where Mr. Frelinghuysen comes in. He is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He holds vast influence and sway in what spending bills look like. Will he sit idly by and watch New Jersey’s self-governance be trampled on by a congressman from Pennsylvania?
We hope not.
The experiment on online gaming in New Jersey has been an unmitigated success.
As NJ.com reported in April:
There’s no longer much of a debate about it: Internet gambling is helping to save Atlantic City’s casinos.
New Jersey’s online gambling market had its best month ever in March, registering an increase of more than 40 percent from a year ago as it helped Atlantic City’s casinos boost their gambling revenue by more than 9 percent. When the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal is excluded from the calculation, the seven surviving casinos saw an increase of nearly 17 percent last month.
Figures released Wednesday by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement show the casinos won $221.8 million in March. That’s an increase of 9.3 percent compared with March 2016.
The results were helped by an increase of 40.2 percent in online gambling revenue, which increased to $21.7 million in March, compared with $15.5 million a year ago.
Of the seven brick-and-mortar casinos currently operating, only Bally’s posted a decrease, and it was only 2.2 percent.
Internet gambling began in New Jersey in November 2013 as a way to help the state’s struggling casinos. It appears to be doing just that, gambling authorities said.
“Every month should be as good as March was,” said Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. “When coupled with the very strong earnings report that came out last week, it’s clear that casinos have started to grow the market and increase their profits. That is generating a lot of positive interest in Atlantic City and has already attracted significant new investment in this market.”
If Mr. Adelson was a true champion of the Constitution, he would be lobbying new Jersey legislators in Trenton to change to law. Instead he is asking his friends in Washington to do his dirty work.
Mr. Frelinghuysen should stand up and say in a loud and clear voice that attacks on the Garden State won’t be included in bills passing out of his Committee.
– Kevin William, Paterson
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