Poll results: New Jersey could rival Gibraltar and Isle of Man
eGR readers see the potential of New Jersey Senator Lesniak's plan to turn the state into an international egaming juristiction
New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak’s proposed “foreign gambling bill” could see egaming operators rush to get a licence in the state, making it a realistic competitor to the likes of Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, eGaming Review readers have said.
Senator Lesniak last week proposed a bill which, if passed, would allow New Jersey-licensed operators to offer their online platforms to players in countries outside of the US.
And according to this week’s eGR poll, almost half (49%) of poll respondents believe this would enable the Garden State to rival the likes of Gibraltar, the Isle of Man and Malta as a jurisdiction for online gambling.
A further 26% of readers believe that while the state may be an attractive proposition for some operators, the governments of currently favoured jurisdictions can rest assured that any impact is unlikely to be immediate.
With permitted online gambling still in its infancy in the US, operators may see the value in biding their time and waiting to see how New Jersey’s own online gambling industry takes off.
The bill does, however, come with a list of restrictions and a tax rate of 10% that a quarter of readers considered to be too much of an obstacle for operators to contemplate New Jersey as an honest rival for those jurisdictions across the other side of the Atlantic.
The proposed tax rate would make New Jersey more expensive to operate in than the 1% rate Gibraltar currently sustains, while operators would also have to pay an initial licensing fee of $200,000 and only target customers over the age of 21.