Saturday, February 2, 2013

NJ Governor Christie still not showing his hand re online gaming ...

Governor Christie was asked today about my report on the meeting Tuesday between Pokers Players Alliance executive director John Pappas and a top administration official.

Speaking at a press event in East Newark, Christie told my colleague Melissa Hayes and other journalists: ?Listen, my staff takes meetings with people all the time and you shouldn?t read anything into their meeting with folks to signal whether I?m going to sign a particular bill or not.?

?We try to make ourselves accessibly to everybody who has an interest in legislation that?s on my desk, when appropriate, and then my staff comes to me with their views based upon in part those interviews and other policy considerations,? Christie added. ?So we?ll make those decisions when we make them.?

In this case, the decision will be made by Christie by Thursday, which is the deadline for Christie to sign or veto the online gaming bill on his desk. He vetoed a similar measure in 2011, but it seems he may approve it this time ? or do a conditional veto that might lead to online poker only being approved.

Meanwhile, a key Atlantic City labor union leader, Bob McDevitt of Local 54 of Unite-HERE, on Thursday endorsed the bill.

The significance there is that Christie has expressed concerns that even if the casino companies might make more money via online gaming, it might not be worth it for the state if jobs would be lost in the process. Now he has a labor official backing the idea, which might make Christie less queasy on that front.

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Source: http://blog.northjersey.com/meadowlandsmatters/4853/nj-governor-christie-still-not-showing-his-hand-re-online-gaming/

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