The state of New Jersey announced that their 5 day beta trial online gambling test went down extremely well and the state gaming regulators were satisfied with the results. New Jersey has not received official approval to go ahead and launch a full scale real money live online gambling websites.
Six out of the twelve Atlantic City casinos did not waste any time and have already launched their online website offering players in New Jersey the opportunity to playing online poker. The six casino’s that are currently offering online poker in the state of New Jersey are the World Series of Poker, which is owned by Caesars; PartyPoker which has formed a partnership with the Borgata to launch BorgataPoker.com and relies on the 888 software and UltimatePoker.com, which is an owned by Nevada-based Station Casinos.
Keep an eye on out dedicated page for New Jersey poker sites where we will be adding list of all the licensed poker sites that have license.
However one of the biggest names missing from New Jersey is PokerStars. According to PokerScout, the company has more than 20,000 cash game players everyday yet the state of New Jersey is yet to grant PokerStars its license. One of the key criteria for the approval of online poker in New Jersey is that the online poker website must have a partnership or own a brick and mortar casino in the state of New Jersey.
PokerStars had earlier tried to acquire an Atlantic City casino but the deal did not go through. Another reason why PokerStars did not receive its license could be because of its past dealings. The commercial casino industry’s top lobbying group, the American Gaming Association has firmly opposed the licensing of PokerStars. Earlier this year, the AGA released a statement saying that it did not support PokerStars desire to get into the brick-and-mortar business in New Jersey “because the integrity of the gaming industry would be gravely compromised by any regulatory approval of PokerStars, a business built on deceit, chicanery, and systematic flouting of U.S. law.”
Ray Lesniak, the New Jersey lawmaker who has been the leader in pushing forward the online gambling legalization efforts in New Jersey was asked for his opinion on PokerStars operating in New Jersey. Lesniak said “It’s strictly in the hands of the regulators, and that’s where it should be,” Lesniak said. “My legislation gave [PokerStars] the opportunity to apply for a license, but it left it in the hands of the Division of Gaming Enforcement to determine if they met the requirements. That has yet to be determined. Obviously it would be good for New Jersey to have such a huge gaming operator operating out of Atlantic City, but that cannot happen until they meet the requirements.”
