It’s more a useful guide over time to market growth and player interest than an indication of how many players are actually active in the recently opened New Jersey online gambling market, but the number of new accounts opened over the last four weeks has continued to grow steadily and is now approaching 110,000, according to official regulator figures.
The publication NJ.com reported New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement numbers Monday that show 109,946 online gambling accounts had been created by the end of Sunday, with more than 18,000 opened in the last week.
“We have seen a steady and continual increase in site traffic since November 21 due to the outreach of the casino operators,” DGE director David Rebuck said in a statement. “We are encouraged by their marketing efforts and are optimistic for the future of New Jersey’s internet gaming industry.”
Because one punter can create accounts at different websites, and some may be creating accounts but not playing, the statistic is not a reliable indicator of how many players are active in the new market; the DGE is scheduled to release financial results for the first weeks of regulated online gambling on January 15th, which should give a better feel for the market and its immediate future.
It is likely that with the new year account openings will continue on an upward trend due to extensive marketing efforts planned by the Atlantic City operators and their partners, a slew of big-money online poker tournaments in the works, and extensions into online poker by some operators that do not yet offer this variant of internet gambling.