It’s On! New Jersey Takes on Nevada to Control Large Chunk of Online Gambling Market
News Wednesday that PokerStars and Resorts Casino had entered into a deal to bring online poker to New Jersey residents will have a dramatic impact well beyond the Garden State’s own borders.
For starters, Resorts is now managed by the Mohegan Sun, which itself is owned by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, based out of nearby Connecticut. With Connecticut researching possible ways to enter the multi-billion dollar online gambling market, it will be interesting to see if that state might form some type of compact with New Jersey.
New Jersey has also made it clear they welcome compacts with international player pools. With PokerStars the largest real money online poker site in the world, we can easily see residents of New Jersey and those visiting the state playing against folks from Brazil, Spain, the United Kingdom, Russian, Canada and wherever else Stars is legally able to operate. PokerStars, unlike Ultimate Gaming, which this week announced a partnership deal with Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal, already has a massive international player pool in place. They also have a significant database of customers from the Garden State from having once operated in the US.
But as Gambling911.com has pointed out in the past, a PokerStars entry into the New Jersey market could offer up a wealth of opportunities where pros relocate to neighboring New York City or Philadelphia. The likes of Daniel Negreanu and Rafa Nadal would have the ability to trek across the Hudson or Delaware River in a mere 15 minutes to play online for real money.
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New Jersey has a population of approximately 8 million people but an online poker market within its borders has the potential to capture upwards of 20 million by way of the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. “Just as people commute each day to and from New Jersey working in either Manhattan or Philadelphia, we can see professional poker players doing the same,” says one industry expert. “It wouldn’t be a stretch to see PokerStars setting up office space in New Jersey where pros are playing online with residents of the state.” Stars also hosts live poker tours, and we can certainly expect at least one of those stops to be at Resorts in Atlantic City. |
Nevada is the only other state to currently offer real money online poker within its borders, but with a population of just under 4 million, an intrastate-only model is hardly viable. Also take into account that some two dozen companies are competing for licensing there.
The American Gaming Association in Nevada earlier in the year protested PokerStars entry into the New Jersey market. A deal for Stars parent company, The Rational Group, to acquire the Atlantic Club Hotel in Atlantic City eventually fell through. The Rational Group has since filed a lawsuit against the Atlantic Club Casino’s owners.
The gaming association said in a filing it submitted to the casino commission of New Jersey that it opposes the PokerStars bid "because the integrity of the gaming industry would be gravely compromised by any regulatory approvals of PokerStars, a business built on deceit, chicanery and the systematic flouting of U.S. law."
Yet most would argue that PokerStars has been a pillar of integrity within the online poker sector, buying up assets of beleaguered Full Tilt Poker and returning funds to those residing outside the US.
Whether the Full Tilt Poker brand is reintroduced to the US market would provide an interesting scenario as millions of dollars is still owed to American poker players by the original Full Tilt. The US Justice Department has vowed to pay back affected players following a settlement agreement entered into last year, however, disbursements are occurring at a snail’s pace. Not one person living in the States has received a penny after two years of waiting.
It will certainly be intriguing to see if New Jersey gains the upper hand in the newly regulated US online poker market. But Nevada could have an ace up its sleeve – that being neighboring California.
The state of California has been looking to legalize Web poker for years without much success. As the world’s 8th largest economy, California is more than capable of sustaining many Internet card rooms. A California-Nevada compact could have massive ramifications for the sector.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
