Is the writing on the wall for sweepstakes casinos and the Vegas casino-sized loophole they’ve used as a basis for their business model? That idea seems more likely than ever last week when New Jersey became the sixth US State to ban sweepstakes casinos outright. It’s a move that was argued against desperately, and with no avail, by the industry’s representatives.
The ban is covered under A5547, which was passed by the New Jersey Assembly in a 69-10-1 vote. Just a few moments later, literally, the New Jersey Senate passed the bill in a 34-5 vote. From the Senate floor, the bill heads to Governor Phil Murphy for final approval – approval he’s very likely to grant.
One of the challenges in crafting a sweepstakes casino ban is to not close off the original purpose of sweepstakes laws, which are to provide transparency and equal opportunities to customers of contests that are unrelated to casinos. In this instance the law makes clear the differences between dual currency casinos and cereal box contests.
Passing A5547 is a major blow to sweepstakes operators like the World Poker Tour (WPT), which operates several New Jersey-facing sites including ClubWPT and ClubWPT Gold. Last week WPT CEO Adam Pliska urged the Senate Committee on Budget and Appropriations not to pass the bill saying, “We have never had an issue. We have never had a lawsuit. We’ve never had a cease and desist. We’ve operated a sweepstakes product for over 15 years, and so I just want to make myself available to the committee, if anybody would like to continue to explore this idea that there is more revenue to be found.”
Pliska’s pleas fell on deaf ears and New Jersey seems certain to be the next state to ban sweepstakes casinos outright.