New Jersey Online Gambling Brief November 14, 2013
The November 21st soft-launch is right around the corner, Paul Leggett is out at Amaya, and several casinos are taking early sign-ups. These are just some of the stories we will cover in this week’s installment of the NJ Online Gambling Breakdown.
Soft-Launch date just a week away; real-money launch to follow
Real-money gambling in New Jersey is just about a week away, as on November 21st select New Jersey players will, for the first time, be able to log in and gamble for real-money at licensed New Jersey online gaming sites.
As the soft launch approaches more details are coming to light, and according to an article at the Press of Atlantic City the soft launch period will only last a mere eight hours over the first two days. If these initial tests are successful testing times will be bumped to 14 hours on the third day of the five-day soft launch period, followed by two days of round the clock testing.
If all goes well, New Jersey is expected to “go live” on November 26, 2013. However, the DGE has indicated that the trial period could be extended.
Players wanting to take part in the soft launch will have to preregister at one of the six online operators that will take part in the soft launch [more on this below] in addition to meeting the real-money eligibility requirements outlined by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Six online casinos/poker rooms accepting early signups
As noted above, six online operators in New Jersey are currently accepting early registrations:
* Borgata and bwin.party: Borgata.com and PartyPokerNJ.com
* Trump Plaza and Betfair: Let’sPlayNJ.com
* Trump Taj Mahal and Ultimate Gaming: UCasino.com
* Tropicana AC and Gamesys: Tropicana.net
* Golden Nugget AC and Bally Technologies/Amaya Gaming: GoldenNuggetPoker.net
All six of these sites are expected to be part of the soft launch.
Paul Leggett steps down at Amaya Gaming
On Friday November 8, 2013, Amaya Gaming was among the companies approved for a transactional waiver by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
However, it appears that Amaya’s approval came at the expense of one of the company’s top executives, the controversial Paul Leggett, who left the company to help secure an online gaming license for Amaya in New Jersey according to a report on USPoker.com.
Leggett’s previous job title in the gaming industry was the CEO of the Cereus Network (made up of the now defunct Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet/UB) where he tried to clean up the mess left behind by the super-user scandals that rocked both sites. Suffice to say, poker players were not thrilled with Leggett’s performance.
Leggett’s association with these much despised companies, and the potential problems it could cause with regulators, seems to have been the impetus for his departure from Amaya Gaming according to the USPoker.com article, which stated that in the end Leggett left “voluntarily and on good terms.”
Updated License Lists
Here is a look at the links where you can find all of the companies that have received preliminary approval or full approval for an online gaming license in New Jersey:
* NJ ACSIE and Vendor License Holders
* Approved NJ Transactional Waivers
* Companies Eligible for a Transactional Waiver
