888 and Caesars partner up in New Jersey

888 Holdings and US casino giant Caesars Interactive have already partnered to provide online games in Nevada.

On Tuesday this week, they announced that they’ve also struck a deal in the more lucrative market of New Jersey.

888’s chief executive, Brian Mattingley said of the new arrangement,

“This is an important development in our US strategy which will allow 888 to offer 888-branded poker and casino products in New Jersey, subject to required regulatory approvals,”

Details of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but joining the dots it’s safe to say that 888 will be providing the online casino/poker platform, Caesars will provide the license to offer games online to New Jersey residents under that states recently passed online casino laws, and there’ll be some kind of revenue sharing arrangement.

As to whether or when live dealer games will come into the mix we can speculate only. Interestingly, 888’s live games provider (Evolution Gaming) have already snuck a foot in the door of America’s newly regulated markets by virtue of a partnership with SHFL.

New Jersey players only

One thing is for sure…regardless of the type of casino games 888/Caesars serve up out of Atlantic City, they’ll be accessible by New Jersey residents only…and only when they are physically located within state boundaries.

There was an interesting piece in Business Week earlier in the week detailing how the intra-state play restrictions will be enforced from a technology perspective.

Apparently simple IP tracking won’t be good enough. And lets face it…nor should it be given how easy it is to get a proxy. GPS location of devices is also considered to be too easy to manipulate.

The preferred method for identifying where the player is located will be to use their cellphones. Location can be determined by triangulating the cellphone signal to/from wireless towers. Of course, this assumes the player and the cellphone are actually together (more on that below) It also means that new players will need to provide cellphone details on registration…a process that will go something like:

1. player provides cellphone number to 888/Caesars, (or whoever else),
2. Casino sends verification code by text,
3. player types code into registration page to complete sign-up.

Regardless of your computer’s IP settings, the operator will now know exactly where you phone is at all times.

Where exactly you are may be another matter.

I can just see a new market for cellphone charging and storage services springing up in the state of New Jersey!