More options for NJ gamblers

THE largest expansion of Internet gaming, sports betting, online lottery sales and barroom horse wagering gambling in New Jersey is being explored. The second thoughts come after increasing competition starts to mount up from neighbouring gambling hotspots, such as Atlantic City.

“Trying to stop people from gambling on sports is like Prohibition,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, who also backs Internet poker and online lottery measures. “How did that work out? We are a society that allows gambling, and we’re not going back.”

But some experts worry that the new options will lure more residents into compulsive gambling and financial jeopardy. And gaming analysts say it’s difficult to predict how much a proliferation of new gambling options would simply grab money already being spent on other types of gambling.

“That’s been a real question — at what point do you have saturation?” said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester.

Michael Pollock, the managing director of the Spectrum Gaming Group research firm, said that all gambling interests are grappling with that.

“The politics and the technology both are moving at such breakneck speed that it seems like there’s no luxury of time to analyze it all,” Pollock said.