All Atlantic City Casinos Met New Jersey Online License Deadline
The New Jersey gambling control board has set a rapid pace for implementation of its recently legalized online gambling industry. After Gov. Chris Christie inked his signature on a bill to legalize online gambling in the state in March, operators were given a terse deadline of June 30th to submit the proper licensing applications. As of today’s count, with the deadline behind us, all 12 Atlantic City casinos have tendered their individual applications.
It’s indubitably apparent that every casino establishment in New Jersey’s gambling mecca is driving full-throttle towards the implementation of online gambling services. According to state officials, who have thus far stuck to a strict timeline, New Jersey expects to have its online gambling business up and running before the year is out; a tentative date of November 26, 2013 to be exact.
Each of the casinos will be looking to partner up with online gaming providers to proffer their traditional casino services over the internet. Service providers include everything from games software developers and payment processors to location and identity verification services; the location identification being particularly important as New Jersey will be restricting its participation to players located within the borders of the state, at least for the time being. Ostensibly, New Jersey will be looking to partner with other compatible states, like Nevada, to share interstate player bases in the amicable future.
Casinos who met the end-of-June deadline – which was, again, all of them – will be eligible to launch their respective online gambling operations by the state’s soft launch date, assuming that all goes as planned within New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). A spokeswoman for the DGE, Lisa Spengler, stated that the regulator will be responsible for examining each applicant and determining whether or not they meet the strict standards for the state’s impending internet gaming industry. Only those who meet the perquisites will be approved to “commence Internet gaming operations by the go-live date”, said Spengler.
It’s interesting to note that the Atlantic Club applied for an online gambling license as well. The Atlantic Club is the New Jersey casino that PokerStars’ parent company, the Rational Group, spent six months attempting the acquire, only to be shot down by an American court judge. The purchase date expired on the contract between Rational Group and Colony Capital, owner of the casino, when there was a delay in the buyer’s reception of a license to own/operate a casino from the state. Several court rulings later, Rational Group, which had already paid $11 million to Colony Capital by that time, was denied its right to purchase the Atlantic Club. Thus Colony Capital was able to retain the $11 million, keep the Atlantic Club afloat and subsequently apply for an online gaming license in New Jersey.
The other 11 Atlantic City casinos to apply for a license are Bally’s (which includes the Wild West Casino), the Borgata, Caesars, Golden Nugget, Harrah’s, Resorts, Revel, Showboat, the Tropicana, Trump Plaza and the Taj Mahal. Many of these land-based casinos are directly linked by proprietorship to Las Vegas casinos, which would create a perfect opportunity to network their online poker rooms on an interstate level if and when the prospect becomes legally available.