In what is increasingly starting to look like a coordinated attack on Pokerstars as it awaits the licensing decision of the New Jersey regulator, another state politician has attacked the company and opined that it should not be granted a licence.
Following an assault in the media last week by Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (see previous report) Assemblyman Ron Dancer has now voiced his very similar objections, using the inaccurate and biased accusation that Pokerstars is a major “bad actor” due to its pre-Black Friday activity in the USA, and should therefore be banned.
He apparently ignores the bona fide settlement and huge payments to US officials that Pokerstars made, all specifically with no admission of guilt requirement (see previous reports).
Dancer also alleges that the New Jersey regulator denied Pokerstars a licence last year, a biased twist to the facts, which are that the regulator – under pressure from US land gambling interests – suspended the application for two years pending a change in circumstances at Pokerstars and its parent group, Rational.
Those changes have since occurred through the sale of Rational to Amaya Gaming.
The arguments presented by the two politicians, both of whom have received support from state racetrack and pro land casino interests, have striking similarities and in the opinion of some smack of commercial protectionism.
Observers have also noted that in his op-ed article Caputo referenced similar views expressed in the New Jersey media by onetime regulator Carl Zeitz, who apparently now consults for the Sheldon Adelson-funded Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling.
In claiming that licensing Pokerstars could damage the Atlantic City market, Dancer also appears oblivious to the business problems land gambling in the state has been struggling with for the past few years as it suffers from competition in neighbouring states.