Just ten percent margin of error in Geolocation capability

Geolocation technology deployed in the just-opened New Jersey online gambling market has been fine-tuned and now excludes just one in every ten users who are legitimately within the state’s borders as required by the regulations.

Anna Sainsbury, CEO of supplier GeoComply, said adjustments to the technology used by most of the New Jersey land casinos offering Internet gambling have reduced the “false negative” rate to about 10 percent.

That is 25 percent below the level of false negatives Nevada experienced when it launched online gambling earlier this year, she told the Associated Press news agency over the weekend.

Sainsbury claims the technology is now accurate “to within a few meters,” and most users along the state’s borders should be able to log on and gamble.

Before the launch of New Jersey real money action, some geolocation providers said they had initially set their electronic ‘fences’ well within New Jersey’s borders as a precaution against out-of-state attempts by punters – especially from neighbouring states – to access the New Jersey market.

Geocomply demonstrated its technology to AP, presenting a real-time map of the state with blue areas showing successful and legitimate New Jersey gamblers who had been allowed by the geolocation facility to access the online sites and gamble.

The map also contained  isolated red markings, indicating attempts to register using illegal masking software or from users with location and other problems.

AP reports that most accepted users were located in the densely populated Hudson River waterfront region, including scores of users in Hoboken. Similarly, the Delaware River coast in New Jersey across from Philadelphia produced a significant number of gamblers.

The technology also identified and flagged a user in West York who was blocked because he had omitted to turn on his computer WiFi channel.

Associated Press reports that funding accounts by credit card remains a problem on which regulators and banks are working, a hangover from the days when federal legislation required financial institutions to block “illegal’ transactions.

Regulators claimed that the situation has already improved considerably, with MasterCard approving nearly eight times the amount Visa was during the first week of legal online gambling in New Jersey.

Direct bank transfers are still the most successful means to fund accounts, they said.

David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division for Gaming Enforcement, reiterated his opinion that the first week had gone well, despite worries over how the launch would unfold in practical terms.

“There was definitely tension,” he told AP. “At each of the casinos, there were 30, 40, 50 people working on this. On the first night, there were a lot of frowns, people looking to get through that first night. By Sunday night, I saw a lot more smiles. That’s when I knew it was probably going to be OK.”

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