Casinos situated in Atlantic City will have the ability to use for a license to provide online gambling. Only the twelve official Atlantic City casinos will soon be entitled to the license. No other organizations can offer internet gambling, and face stiff fines if they do. All facilities useful for the operation of internet gambling should be located within city limits; only bets which can be received with a server in Atlantic City will soon be legal.
– Players should be “physically present” in New Jersey to place wagers. As time goes by, New Jersey may develop agreements with other states where internet gambling is legal to permit out-of-state gambling. The casino’s equipment must verify players’ locations before accepting wagers.
– Any games offered to play in the casinos could be played online. (For comparison, Nevada only allows poker.) As of now, sports betting will not be protected by this bill, although the state of New Jersey is attempting to fight the federal statute barring the legalization of sports betting.
– The bill has all sorts of provisions to keep gambling addiction away, such as for example requiring the prominent display of the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline number, a method to set maximum bets and losses over a specific period of time, and tracking player losses to identify and limit users who may demonstrate addictive gambling behavior.
– Revenue from online gambling will carry a 15% tax. The Christie administration states that about $180 million in revenue for the state will soon be generated using this tax, but some analysts think this number is seriously overestimated.
The state regulations, which the bill required the judi bola Division of Gaming Enforcement to create, were released on June 3, and are susceptible to a “public comment period” until August 2 before being finalized. These rules include details such as for example how a casino acquires the appropriate licenses and procedures for maintaining network security on gambling sites.
So, will online gambling actually benefit the state?
The Good
Revenues from Atlantic City casinos have been on the decline for the past seven years, and online gambling might be what saves the failing casinos. Since 2006, casino revenue has dropped from $5.2 billion to around $3 billion. Online gambling is actually a $500 million to $1 billion industry in New Jersey, which might be enough to keep struggling casinos afloat and save jobs in Atlantic City. Further, even though estimates of tax revenue are all around the map, there is potential for online gambling to be always a considerably valuable supply of money for the state. The casinos will also need to pay a tax to the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which will provide further help struggling casinos in Atlantic City.
For the player, low overhead costs mean better prizes and more opportunities to play. Casinos can incent players with free “chips” which have minimal costs for them but give players more opportunities to play and win. The ease of gambling online allows players to play more with less travel.
BAD:
Among the goals of the bill is supposedly to attract more individuals to see the brick-and-mortar casinos, but it is hard to express if online gambling will in actuality lead to this outcome. You could speculate it might even cause people to visit the casinos less (However, this seems unlikely; the social element and the free drinks are lost in online gambling. Also, research indicates that, at the least with poker, internet gaming doesn’t reduce casino gaming.) Advertising for the host casino will soon be allowed on the online gambling sites, which might encourage people to see the casino but could also be annoying for players.
Online gambling might be seriously devastating for people who have gambling addictions, or even cause people to produce them, raising financial and moral concerns. Even with all the preventative steps the bill requires, it will surely be much harder to stop compulsive gamblers if they are able to place bets anywhere with a net connection.
Regardless, it will be a while before the casinos can actually kick off their online gambling offerings. The regulations need to be finalized and casinos need to use for licensure and develop their gambling websites. What this means is the casinos will not be enjoying this new supply of revenue throughout the 2013 summer season, which may be Atlantic City’s toughest season ever following recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
