As the launch date for New Jersey online gaming approaches, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has announced that player-to-player (P2P) money transfers will not be allowed. Customers of the various Garden State internet casinos will need to fund their accounts themselves if they wish to play.
The rule has been in place in the state’s regulations from the get-go, but Rational Group, the parent company of both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, recently asked the DGE to reconsider. While Rational Group understood the risks inherent in P2P transfers, it felt that if an operator took the proper precautions and enforced strict limits, problems could be minimized.
In a regulations document, the DGE said it has not changed its mind on the matter, stating, “To prevent fraud, collusion, and money laundering, patron to patron transfers of funds will not be permitted.”
Seasoned online poker players have been conducting P2P funds transfers via online poker sites for years; they have become a regular part of account management for many. Online pros are the most frequent users of inter-account transfers, often using them to move money for staking arrangements. Other uses for P2P transfers are for settling gambling debts, loaning a friend money to play (and the subsequent payback), awarding poker league prizes, and for trading funds a different sites.
P2P transfers have come in very handy for players on sites that are slow to issue withdrawals, such as some of the rooms on the Revolution Gaming Network. Rather than waiting months for a check, players are sometimes able to find a trading partner who is willing to transfer them funds on a different poker site in exchange for their funds on the slow site (for a discount, of course).
Those who are used to being able to move money back and forth via inter-account transfer may be disappointed with this reassertion by the New Jersey DGE, but considering finds should be much easier to get on an off U.S.-regulated sites than they are at many overseas sites, the pain should be mitigated at least somewhat. Nevada, the only state in which regulated online poker is currently up and running, does not allow P2P transfers, either.
New Jersey officially announced last week that online gaming, which includes both poker and casino games, will go live on November 26th at 9:00am ET. Prior to liftoff, there will be a five day testing period to make sure all systems are running smoothly. All online gaming sites are required to operate from a brick-and-mortar casino’s property. Thus, the twelve Atlantic City casinos (the only casinos in the state are in Atlantic City) have a giant leg up on everyone else. All of them have partnered with service providers, though two – Revel Casino Hotel and the Atlantic Club – have not made their deals public. Though it does not operate a casino in Atlantic City, Wynn is also getting in the New Jersey game as it has come to an agreement with Caesars to house its servers at one of Caesars’ four Atlantic City casinos.
