New Jersey Governor Vetoes Intrastate Gambling Bill

New Jersey Governor James ‘Chris’ Christie has, after some time spent perusing the pros and

'Chris' Christie

cons of legalising intrastate online gambling, decided that the bill is not yet ready to be passed into law.  The State Assembly and the State Senate both approved the bill by significant majorities some time ago but Christie has seemingly ignored the elected representatives in favour of making his own choice.  The bill was projected to have garnered $35 million in tax revenue and created 1500 jobs in Atlantic City (where the technology would be based).

Commentators sympathetic to Christie have suggested that he has identified loopholes in the bill that could have undermined the bill’s legal status (when looked at from a federal perspective).  Other have suggested that Christie could have been influenced by Caesar’s Entertainment’s funding of Christie’s governorship campaign.  Why would Caesar’s be against this bill?  The obvious answer is that they are desperately trying to retain Nevada’s status as the number one gambling destination and that any opposition to that should be crushed.

Other cynics have also suggested that Christie, who seems himself as a rising star of the GOP, does not want something as ‘seedy’ as the legalisation of online gambling on his resume.

This may not be the end of the process however, the bill can now be tweaked to Christie’s satisfaction and there is talk of a referendum on the subject later in the year.

Cuba Could Have Casinos Within Ten Years

The island of Cuba has been without any form of casinos since the 1959 revolution which

Casino de la Playa, Havana

brought Fidel Castro to power.  Since the early 1950s many luxury casinos had been operating mainly in Havana, run by Italian organised crime under the auspices of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Post revolution this all came to an end but rumours are afoot that Cuba may get back in the game within the next decade.  Castro’s power is waning and his son Raul will almost certainly be taking over, moving forward with a creeping liberalisation that that will no longer leave them isolated from the U.S. or their one-time protectors, Russia.