Online casino games now legal in New Jersey

Today, as promised New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed into law a bill making online casino games legal in New Jersey. The bill easily passed through both houses earlier in the day (68-5-1 in the Assembly; 35-1 in the Senate).

Gov. Christie released a statement after signing N.J. bill no. 2578 saying,

“I am pleased to say that today I signed New Jersey’s Internet gaming bill, opening the way for new opportunity to bolster our efforts to continue the revival of Atlantic City, its casinos, and entertainment offerings…This was a critical decision, and one that I did not make lightly.”

New Jersey now joins Delaware and Nevada in legalizing online casino games (poker only in Nevada) and paves the way for Atlantic City casinos to take their games online. Delaware passed their law back in June 2012 but their casinos are yet to launch games online and aren’t expected to until late 2013 with their casinos still at the stage of issuing RFP’s for technology suppliers.

It’s likely Atlantic City casinos will move much faster. Already the Borgata has launched remote (on premise) games and others have no doubt been doing the technology planning so they’d be ready to hit the ground running once the law, which has long been in the pipeline, got up.

Games can only be served from within the premises of one Atlantic City’s 12 casinos but can be played anywhere within New Jersey, on any internet enabled device…desktop, laptop, Internet TV, iPhone, iPad, Android or any other handheld computer device (anyone still have a Blackberry?). Step outside state borders and you’ll have trouble logging on however. The casinos will be required to incorporate GPS tracking software into their technology that can identify the source of a remote player’s signal to within a few feet.

As for which games…if it’s on the floor of the casino it can go online. Slots, craps, poker, blackjack, roulette, baccarat etc. No doubt RNG games will dominate what’s available initially. Hopefully live games will soon follow. They already have the tables and dealers…just need the streaming technology.

Wonder if Vuetec, Evolution Gaming and others have made friends with management at Trump Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Caesars Entertainment, Revel, Landry’s or Boyd Gaming yet?