New Jersey Prepares to Publish Regulations for Online Gambling

Online gambling in the Garden State took one step closer to becoming a reality with this week’s announcement from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement that regulations governing NJ’s online gambling industry will be published on June 3rd.

The DGE is the primary regulator for online gambling activity in New Jersey. The bill that brought legal, regulated gambling to the state also granted the DGE sweeping powers with regards to the licensing process, the types of games that can be offered and the manner in which games must be operated.

A draft of the regulations the DGE has developed will be available as part of the official state record on June 3rd. Following the publishing of the regulations is a comment period that runs through August 2nd. During this period anyone can leave their feedback on the regulations, although the DGE is not required to address all (or any) comments. Comments are generally made public at the end of the comment period.

You can read the full draft of the NJ regulations here.

How NJ online gambling will work

New Jersey will operate in a very similar fashion to Nevada when it comes to online gambling. While the regulations governing online gambling in New Jersey clock in at over 70 pages, the basics of regulation can be boiled down to just a few key ideas:

• All of the rules that apply to live gambling apply to online gambling unless otherwise stated.

• Players will be able to deposit by credit card, debit card and casino account transfer. As is also the case with Nevada’s Ultimate Poker, players will have the option to deposit into their online account at the physical cashier’s cage in the casino

• Casinos will be obligated to keep extensive records on all gameplay and account transactions. And they’re obligated to make that information readily available to relevant agencies upon demand.

Remember, this is still a draft in some sense, and therefore subject to change. The comment process is the primary route for individuals interested in providing their input for improving the regulations.

Will NJ form networks with other states?

The regulations in their current form do permit New Jersey to compact with other states. But generating a list of potential partners isn’t a simple exercise. People are naturally inclined to think of a neighboring state like Pennsylvania, but with the intense competition between the two states for land-based gambling dollars, such a partnership might prove difficult to forge.

A more likely situation is that New Jersey will develop relationships with states that have some interest in limited forms of online gambling (perhaps just poker, or just slot games) but little interest in developing the regulatory framework to support such activity. Think of states like Vermont or possibly even Texas.

New Jersey capable of going it alone

With a population of nearly nine million, New Jersey is considered to be a state that could support multiple online poker sites.

While these sites wouldn’t necessarily be on the scale of a PokerStars, the consensus is that New Jersey could play host to two or three thriving online poker sites, especially if players from the surrounding region relocate for the purposes of playing online poker.