The New Jersey legislature is in the process of taking aggressive measures to help save struggling Atlantic City and possibly prevent a fifth casino from closing this year. On Monday, a state senate panel acted on a group of bills that have the potential to give Atlantic City casinos a needed financial boost and possibly save the Trump Taj Mahal from closure.

Atlantic City has seen four casinos close in 2014 and the Taj is scheduled to close on December 20. At present, approximately 9,000 jobs have been lost in connection with casino closures. The closure of the Taj would add at least 3,000 more to that total.

Tax Stabilization Act Would Guarantee Tax Revenue to the City

Perhaps the most important of the five bills is S2572, the Casino Property Taxation Stabilization Act. This bill would allow casinos to make flat payments of $150 million over the next two years instead of paying property taxes. After the initial two-year period, taxes would then be based on gaming revenue in the city. Tax payments could be as low as $75 or as high as $165 million. This system would be in place for at least 13 years.

For those thinking this looks similar to Carl Icahn’s plan for the Trump Taj, you would be correct. Icahn had asked for a similar tax break for the Taj from city administrators but was subsequently denied. This bill would not just benefit the Taj, but all casinos in Atlantic City.

Bills Would Look After Full-Time Employees

One of the reasons that Icahn encountered resistance in his quest for state aid was his desire to terminate union employee health care and pensions at the Taj. While he has backed off from that position, the legislature is making sure a similar fiasco doesn’t happen in the future.

Under S2583, licensed casinos would be required to give full-time employees a “baseline health care and retirement package.” This bill would seem to cover all full-time employees, and not just union employees.

Unite-HERE has yet to act on Icahn’s request for the union to drop their appeal of a bankruptcy judge’s ruling that the Taj could eliminate health care and pension payments to union employees. Icahn later decided that he would reinstate health care and provide partial pension payments to employees provided they drop their appeal.

Legislation Could Save the Taj

The odds of the Taj seem to be improving by the day and the passage of these bills may be enough to guarantee the casino’s continued operation. Major Don Guardian told the Senate committee that, “I do believe this legislation is going to save the Taj from closing.” Considering that S2572 would give Icahn at least part of what he needed to keep the casino open, Guardian believes Icahn will proceed with his plan to invest $100 million into the property.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney supports the bills and is focused on stabilizing the Atlantic City economy. Right now, between 8,000 and 9,000 people are without jobs thanks to the casino closures and up to another 5,000 are facing similar prospects. The most important thing right now, according to Sweeney, is to right the sinking ship that is Atlantic City.

Online gambling opponents will have to wait another day for a federal ban on online poker.

The Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA) — which would overturn a US Department of Justice interpretation limiting the scope of the current prohibition under the current version of the Wire Act law to sports betting — is not attached to the omnibus “must pass” spending bill by Congress.

The development is a major victory for the online gambling industry in the United States.

Fears had been circulating for months that a back room deal similar to the one that saw the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) attached to the omnibus bill in 2006 would happen again.

Although the anti-gambling lobby will undoubtedly continue its efforts in 2015, it will now have to do so by slogging its way through the normal legislative process. This promises to make the debate over the future of American online poker much more robust, open, and transparent.

More Money; More Problems

It appears as though the worst kept secret in Washington these days is that the anti-iGaming lobby is being almost entirely bankrolled by one man: Republican super donor Sheldon Adelson.

Normally, money and politics go hand in hand, especially in the United States where campaign finance regulation is weak. Nevertheless, pushback has begun to ferment at the grassroots level against the idea that one man could have so much influence over what is potentially a billion dollar industry.

Conservative groups especially have voiced strong opposition to the perception that Congress could be bought off by Adelson to craft regulation squashing direct competition to his personal, land-based, gambling empire.

Congressman Ron Paul dedicated an entire op-ed piece to his railing against Adelson’s influence on Capitol Hill and what he labeled “crony capitalism” in its most pure and brazen form.

This political climate appears to have given Republican politicians pause that they risk a serious backlash from their base if they are seen as walking in lock-step with the epitome of special interest money.

State Rights Arguments Also Resonate

In addition to disgust at the money being thrown around, Republican politicians are also hearing from voters in their base who are wondering out-loud why the federal government is even getting involved in regulating online gambling at all.

Land-based casino gambling has always been the prerogative of the sovereign state governments, and many conservatives view the idea of a federal ban as an example of encroachment on the principle of state sovereignty.

Grover Norquist — who is the president of Americans for Tax Reform and one of the most influential figures in conservative politics — has also come out strongly against any federal ban on exactly this point.

States’ rights is an important issue for conservative voters, and so this too seems to have scared off support amongst Republican politicians unwilling to be labeled as going against core political values.

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

The defeat of RAWA in this Congress is welcome news. However, it is only one battle in the larger, ongoing war to avoid the proverbial federal ban-hammer.

The iGaming industry has come a long way since 2006. This recent skirmish with big money validates the efforts of industry advocacy groups such as the Poker Players Alliance and the community in general to step out of the shadows and into the mainstream cultural consciousness of the nation.

Players and operators alike clearly do now have a voice in the halls of power.

Even more encouraging is to see that the issue has now been removed from the simple “pro” vs. “anti” gambling dichotomy and is instead being discussed in the language of the broader American political debate. This is a development that cannot be overstated.

It makes it much less likely — though certainly not impossible — that a federal ban will be able to get through Congress.

Conclusion

Although the omnibus bill can be amended at any time, the high-visibility of the issue in recent weeks makes it unlikely that online gambling legislation will be coming out of Congress until at least 2015.

All eyes will now be on California, as well as the possibility of an interstate compact between Nevada and Delaware. Should these happen, they will cement the industry even further and — given the amount of opposition already present to a federal ban — make it almost impossible to dislodge it.

For that reason, the coming year is shaping up to be the biggest one in the history of US iGaming.

Gambling expansion is coming to the state of New York in the form of four new casinos and today we will likely learn the names that will adorn the entrances to those casinos, as well as the specific locations.

Voters approved the construction of the new land-based gambling establishments last year and the Gaming Facility Location Board has been perusing 16 bids from companies with well-known names such as Churchill Downs, Genting and Caesars. The regions in which the casinos will be placed are already known, while the winning bidders are not — until later.

Three areas have been approved — Albany, Catskill Mountains-Orange County, and near the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. The second of those three is seen as perhaps the jewel of the bunch, Bloomberg reported, as Orange County is about one hour away from New York City and its population of more than eight million.

New York is already home to five casinos run by Indian tribes, as well as nine video slot parlors located at horse racing facilities. The new casinos are expected to co-exist with the land-based gaming operations currently operating.

Following the announcement of the winning bids — a Christmas present of sorts for those chosen — the New York State Gaming Commission must also give their rubber-stamped approval. A likely mere formality, as the Gaming Facility Location Board was specifically set up to handle much of the process.

Online Poker Next?

New York lawmakers took a look at two online poker bills introduced this year. Sen. John Bonacic proposed S 6913 in the spring and Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow followed with A09509 weeks later.

Both bills aimed to allow games requiring skill to be regulated, while excluding house-banked casino games. Both also cited the need for safeguards that regulation would provide, noting that many New Yorkers play at unregulated sites where protection and safety of funds is questionable.

Two East Coast states have already enacted online poker and gambling legislation — Delaware and New Jersey — and another, Pennsylvania, may be next in line following in-depth research into the possibility. The bills introduced in New York did not gain much traction, but the state is miles ahead of other states who have yet to even consider proposals.

Perhaps after the identities and locations of the winning casino bidders are named and construction is underway, online poker regulation can be debated with greater intensity. New York is the third largest state in terms of population and would be much-welcomed as a regulated state by online poker and gambling activists.