A new online casino is hitting the New Jersey market this week, but for those familiar with gambling geography, it may seem like an odd entry. Monday morning, the Mohegan Sun launched its casino gambling offering, appropriately named MoheganSunCasino.com, using software provided by NYX Gaming.
If you are confused, don’t worry. I was, as well. Most of us know Mohegan Sun as the enormous brick-and-mortar casino in Connecticut. So how in the world did it get licensed to provide online casino games in New Jersey? Believe it or not, it was already an insider. In August 2012, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, operator of the Mohegan Sun, took over the management of the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Thus, the Mohegan Sun piggy-backed off of Resorts’ license and is now on the same platform as ResortsCasino.com.
The Mohegan Sun site got up and running yesterday, only making its services available for part of the day, from noon to 8:00pm ET. Today, it is testing the site longer, not shutting things down until 2:00am. It appears that tomorrow, July 22nd, will be when it goes live for good, as the site is scheduled to be up “24/7.”
There are now 17 licensed online gambling sites in New Jersey. Most of them, like Mohegan Sun, are online casino sites, offering games such as slots, roulette, video poker, and blackjack. There are only a handful of online poker rooms. Poker fans are eagerly awaiting the launch of an 18th site, PokerStars.com. PokerStars, like MoheganSunCasino.com, will be launched with Resorts. There are mixed reports as to when the world’s internet poker leader will finally get the cards in the air in New Jersey; some reports indicate the third quarter of 2015, while others say early next year.
According to PlayNJ.com (via eGaming Review), Resorts director of interactive marketing, Lee Terfloth, said that, based on market research it performed, the Mohegan Sun brand is more recognizable to New Jersey residents than Atlantic City’s Borgata. That seems like a dubious claim, but it could be true, as some areas of northern New Jersey are actually closer to Mohegan Sun than they are to Atlantic City casinos. Through regional marketing, they could actually see the Mohegan Sun name more than they do the Borgata name. And being so far from Atlantic City, they may not feel any in-state loyalty to venues such as the Borgata.
As PlayNJ points out (and as can be found on the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s website), Resorts has had a pretty good run since ResortsCasino.com launched in February. The casino’s internet gaming win has increased every month, as has its market share. In June, internet gaming win for Resorts was $400,600, giving it a 4 percent market share. Compare that to $50,909 and a half percent market share in February, and that’s some very nice growth a short period of time.