Senator Ray Lesniak of New Jersey is trying to justify the delay of Poker Stars' much-awaited entry into the state's online poker by blaming Governor Chris Christie. Lesniak was responsible for getting players' hopes up that Poker Stars will be making an appearance withing "a few weeks", according to Tweets he put out at the beginning of September. However, the senator has now been forced to change his tune and has said that "nothing will happen without Christie's ok " when asked by a frustrated player why there was no imminent sign of Poker Stars.

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Analysts say that Christie is currently embroiled in his political career and giving the green light to something as controversial as Poker Stars' entry into the market could be damaging to this. Christie's loyalties lie right now with anti-online gambling crusader, Sheldon Adelson who is reportedly funding his Republican nomination for the presidential election in 2016, and it may very well be that one of the terms of Adelson's generosity was to block Poker Stars from competing in the market.

It seems that the senator is on a blame game whirlwind this week, after stating on Twitter that he believed credit card companies were at fault for New Jersey's poor online gambling revenue in the past few months. "Don't expect stellar results until the credit card companies come on board," the senator warned participants at the Mobile and Tablet Gaming Summit in Atlantic City.

At least the senator was backed up by top analysts and gambling operator heads on this point, who said that one of the biggest challenges facing New Jersey's regulated online poker market was the hesitation of banks to view online gambling as a legal pastime, despite the fact that it was endorsed and legalized by the state. Banks, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings, still believe that payment to and from regulated online poker sites in New Jersey is illegal under the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

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