In what would be a game changer for online gaming and poker in the United States, officials from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and authorities with the United Kingdom’s gaming offices and several major players in the European online gaming industry have opened preliminary discussions on sharing liquidity – or players – between the two arenas.
The director of the DGE, David Rebuck, confirmed for Global Gaming Business that the discussions were in their primitive stages. “With 9 million people in New Jersey, and more than 63 million in the United Kingdom, this would mean a massive increase in liquidity for New Jersey operators,” Rebuck commented to GGB. “Even when you discount children and non-gamblers, it gives us access to a market that is very familiar with online gaming. That number is one-fifth of the total U.S. population.” GGB does state that the original plan would be to roll out online poker between New Jersey and the U. K., but that there would be eventual plans to make it fully encompassing, bringing the online casinos into play at a later date.
Not only is the DGE showing some creative thought in approaching the U. K., they have also contacted some of the companies involved in the New Jersey industry to get their thoughts on how to integrate the offerings. Such operators as 888.com, Betfair, GVC (owners of partypoker) and Gamesys were contacted as well as the “big” operator in the game (at least internationally), PokerStars and Amaya Gaming.
Rebuck is quick to point out that this doesn’t mean that Jerseyites will be playing with Brits in the coming weeks. “We’d still have to figure out lots of issues: specific regulations, how the tax rate from each jurisdiction would be applied, player ID and geolocation issues, and other things we probably haven’t even considered yet,” Rebuck noted to GGB. “But you have to start somewhere.”
Some of the issues Rebuck cited are just the tip of the iceberg. Particularly problematic would be the regulations of New Jersey, which dictate that all gaming – including online – has to originate from Atlantic City. On the ballot this fall, however, is a referendum for the citizens of New Jersey to vote on casino expansion. That referendum, which would end the monopoly by Atlantic City in opening two new Northern New Jersey casinos, would also change the law to the point where allowing for overseas operations to occur would be allowed.
That referendum is one of the hotly contested issues for the 2016 electorate in New Jersey. A March poll from Rutgers University saw that 49% of New Jersey residents were against the expansion of gaming outside of Atlantic City, with 44% in favor of the expansion. That same survey also saw that Jerseyites thought that new “brick and mortar” casinos in Northern Jersey would only hurt Atlantic City (57% to 21%), which could lead to voters wanting to keep gaming only in Atlantic City to aid the struggling gaming mecca.
Another problematic area would be convincing the non-PokerStars operations in New Jersey to compact with an area where PokerStars is the dominant player. According to PokerScout.com, PokerStars has a seven-day cash game players average of 12,000, with second place 888poker only taking one-sixth of that amount of players (2000). It would be suicidal for such operations as 888 or Betfair to try to tackle PokerStars after a U. K./New Jersey alliance because by far the most players would be on the PokerStars platform (driven mainly by British players).
On another front, Rebuck noted to GGB that any discussions between New Jersey and Nevada regarding a liquidity partnership were “currently on hold.” Rebuck stated that the major problem with those discussions is that Nevada currently only has one dominant online platform, the 888-operated WSOP.com. “We’ve talked to Nevada but the fact is we’re limited to one operator…that makes it a different proposition to our other operators (in New Jersey),” Rebuck says.
It is obvious that New Jersey isn’t going to just sit back and wait for people to come to them in their efforts to expand their online gaming operations. The DGE has requested that the New Jersey companies in its online gaming industry respond by August 1 regarding the discussions with the U. K. “We’re very serious about this,” Rebuck concluded to GGB. “And we want to move it along as quickly as possible…”
