Good turnout for New Jersey gambling trial period

David Rebuck, the director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, revealed the results of his staff’s monitoring on the five-day soft launch of online gambling in the Garden State Wednesday, noting that 17,000 in-state punters wagered over the Internet.

Rebuck says the bets were made during restricted hours of play between Thursday and Monday last week.

He told the Associated Press news agency that during the test period, the Atlantic City casinos operating the internet gambling sites added over 3,000 new users each day.

The head of geolocation company GeoComply, Anna Sainsbury, confirmed the good turnout, saying:

“It looks like people are keen to play. I think the launch of i-gaming in New Jersey has been a huge success.”

Interestingly, officials revealed that the geolocation companies stopped a significant number of would-be punters trying to register from other states in the United States as well as international locations such as Portugal, Ghana, India and Canada, illustrating that geolocation is a viable technology.

Wall Street ratings agencies say Internet gambling in New Jersey should bring in between $200 million to $500 million in its first year – substantially lower than earlier state government estimates of $1.2 billion.

AP reported that Moody’s Investors Service pegged first-year Internet gambling revenue at $200 million to $500 million, while Fitch Ratings offered a more modest forecast of $200 million to $300 million the first year.

Rebuck said his staff continues to work with the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, which decided it was not ready to begin unlimited Internet gambling with the other six approved casinos on Monday .

The director said he expects the casino to resolve its issues sometime next week.