New Jersey Online Gambling Brief: Now that Ultimate Casino is Gone, NJ Online Gamblers are Left With Fewer Options
With the departure of UCasino.com from New Jersey’s iGaming industry and BetfairCasino.com seemingly on its way out, the state’s remaining relevant parties find themselves jockeying for position in what is suddenly a far less cluttered landscape.
Unfortunately, only a couple of them have chosen to do anything about it.
After a flurry of activity throughout the early part of September, new promotional vehicles have proven few and far between. With only TropicanaCasino.com and VirginCasino.com keeping things even remotely fresh, others appear content to let their existing content speak for itself, a strategy that in my estimation will see them bleed customers to more active sites.
In other words, don’t be surprised if the triumvirate of Trop / Virgin / Gamesys goes the way of Rocky Balboa and become New Jersey’s most unexpected champion.
UCasino Customers To Expect Refunds
One day you’re spinning the virtual reels and the next you’re scrambling to withdraw funds. Such is the case for UCasino and Ultimate Poker patrons.
As per a message on the site’s redirected home page, customers are no longer able to access their account in the normal fashion. But fear not fellow degens: the site will be issuing refunds (presumably via check) beginning September 28.
As an added gesture, Ultimate Gaming is refunding any unused U-dollars and tournament tickets. That’s in addition to whatever cash balance players had in their account at the time of UCasino’s closure. Under normal circumstances, U-dollars have no cash value.
Hopefully, UCasino patrons will receive their outstanding balances in a timely fashion. The last thing the industry needs is another cashiering fiasco reminiscent of what happened in the days following Black Friday.
888Casino: Strong Incentives Meets Laziness
I’m going to come right out and admit it. 888Casino confounds me.
The site boasts one of the better no deposit bonuses in the industry. Its 100% match bonus up to $300 welcome package is nothing less than stellar, and 888’s recurrent cashback promos are beyond enticing.
So where are the games?
By my count, 888casino features a relatively paltry 22 virtual slot machines, many of them grossly lacking in sophistication and visual appeal.
Its table game options are even more limited, with forays limited to multiple variations of Blackjack and Roulette. That is, unless you count Jacks or Better as a table game, which apparently many online casinos do. I don’t.
Compare this to other NJ online casinos tied to Caesars, which at least exhibit some flexibility. Take CaesarsCasino.com, which dedicates an entire table games section to variants that can be found in its Atlantic City properties, such as Four Card Poker, Six Card Poker and Triple Action Hold’em.
Not that I can wholeheartedly recommend dumping money at these “carnival” games, but it’s good to see at least some sites trying to emulate a genuine NJ casino experience.
Trop / Virgin Capitalize On New Jersey’s Love Of Sports
The partnership of the Tropicana and Virgin seem to have this promotional thing all figured out. Here’s my take on how they cook up their secret sauce:
- Take one part relevant sporting event. After all, gambling and sports go together like Sheldon Adelson and a misinformed argument against online gambling.
- Sprinkle in a cashback or bonus money offer that often times sounds better than it really is.
- Promote a sense of urgency by attaching a very limited time frame to the promotion.
- Rinse and repeat every week.
This week, VirginCasino.com is taking its promotional efforts to new creative heights.
Via its Monday Night Touchdown Sharepot flash promo, players who wager at least $20 on Slots or $50 on other games will receive a Sharepot Ticket. Each Sharepot Ticket will be redeemable for a portion of an up to $3,000 bonus pool, depending on how many touchdowns are scored during this week’s Monday Night Football game between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Whereas Virgin wins in the creativity department, it’s Tropicana’s Major League BonusBall promo that excels in terms of pure value. Simply put, players who wager a predetermined amount on any day from now until October 2 will receive a play back bonus on their net losses.
Play all four days and the bonus caps out at a 20% refund.
Although Trop / Virgin’s flash promos fail to offer anything more than nominal value to its customers, they’re frequent and compelling enough that players feel a need to capitalize upon them, evidenced by the duo’s rising revenue figures.
And unlike Borgata / Party, Trop / Virgin keeps their respective websites up to date, with the latter often times failing to take down promos for week after their expiration date. That’s a no-no that could ultimately result in darkhorse Tropicana usurping the Borgata of its iCasino (patent pending) crown.
PokerStars / Full Tilt Casino: Mum’s The Word
By now, I had half-expected to hear at least a rumbling regarding PokerStars‘ and possibly Full Tilt Casino‘s New Jersey launch date. Alas, no word as of yet.
What we do know, based on two meet and greets between Stars personnel and NJ players, is that the online poker behemoth plans to match Party / Borgata’s biggest Sunday major – a $50,000 Guarantee, and will likely host a $50 buy-in, $10,000 Sunday Warm-Up.
Full Tilt remains a wildcard. Several scenarios for the formerly disgraced poker / casino site still exist, including one where its poker offering would share liquidity with Stars. Although in the more likely case, Full Tilt will exist as a standalone casino.
As often is the case with regulated online gambling, time (and more time) will tell.
