A prominent business website has come forward with something that many in the poker/gaming industry have assumed regarding Amaya Gaming’s efforts to license PokerStars in New Jersey in accusing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie of blocking those efforts for his own political gain.
The website Businessinsider.com and writer Hunter Walker this afternoon went public with their information, indicating that Christie is persuading New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement – the agency that would license Amaya and PokerStars – to hold off on allowing the company to enter the Garden State’s online gaming industry. BusinessInsider.com reports that many in New Jersey, including State Senator Ray Lesniak (one of online gaming’s strongest proponents) and Bob McDevitt (the head of the Atlantic City union that represents casino employees), are now coming forward with statements that indicate Christie is behind the delay in letting Amaya and PokerStars into the state.
“Christie put a stop to it,” Lesniak straightforwardly said to Walker. “With a high degree of confidence, it’s apparent that’s exactly what happened…but I don’t think anyone’s going to go on the record to confirm it.” McDevitt echoed Lesniak’s comments in saying, “My impression was that PokerStars should have already been up and operating long before this point. My understanding is that it was the Attorney General’s office and the governor who are holding up the approvals.”
Others that Walker has spoken to – who have requested to remain anonymous due to the ongoing process of licensing – more bluntly put the blame at Christie’s door. “There’s no reason that the deal shouldn’t have gone through, but the government is holding it back,” one source stated. “I believe that politics has played a role in it,” Walker quotes another source. “There’s no question in my mind that Sheldon Adelson is the reason why this hasn’t moved forward, and that’s the only reason.”
The ties between Christie and Adelson are quite apparent and well-known by those in the gaming and political circles. Christie, who has been pondering a run for the office of President of the United States in 2016, has attempted to stay in the ‘good graces’ of Adelson, who allegedly contributed around $150 million to Republican Presidential candidates in 2012, by blocking online gaming from New Jersey in the recent past. Situations inside the state, including declining revenues in the ‘brick and mortar’ casinos and the loss of jobs, led Christie to allow for online gaming in February 2013 after explaining to Adelson that the New Jersey legislature would have overridden his veto to open up the state for online gaming. Adelson has admitted that Christie informed him of this fact in prior interviews.
In addition to discussion regarding New Jersey legislative processes, Christie has utilized his ties with Adelson for private purposes. Usage of Adelson’s private jet in 2012 for a trip to the Middle East, contributions to the Republican Governor’s Association (an organization that Christie heads) that have totaled $3.5 million and other gifts have been received by Christie from Adelson while in office. This has led to some questioning the ethics of Christie, including the possibility of a criminal probe by the New Jersey legislature.
Adelson has stated that, for the 2016 GOP campaign, he is looking to ‘back a horse’ that will win the White House instead of spreading his money around. Adelson has two points of emphasis in making his decision: a federal ban for online gaming that would prevent individual states from making their own decisions and supporting Israel in the Middle East. Christie would need that backing for a potential Presidential campaign and it has led him and other potential GOP nominees to kneel at Adelson’s feet on both accounts.
Over the past year Christie, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others have prostrated themselves for Adelson, with Graham leading Adelson’s fight to ban online gaming federally through his reintroduction of the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) in the Senate today. Last week, Representative Jason Chaffetz led Adelson’ anti-online gaming drive in reintroducing RAWA in the House of Representatives and is also rumored to have spent last weekend at the Palazzo in Las Vegas; the Palazzo is owned by Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
At this time, the Christie Administration in New Jersey is refusing to respond to any questions regarding the ongoing licensing procedures for PokerStars or Christie’s ties with Adelson. Adelson’s spokespeople have also been silent on the issue after several requests. But it is plain to those in the gaming industry – as well as the political world and the general public – that Christie is blocking movement on the PokerStars licensing as a favor to Adelson and his continued campaign against online gaming and poker.
