Caesars Receives New Jersey Online Gambling Approval as Soft Rollout Begins
New Jersey’s soft launch of state-regulated online gambling services begins today with as many as eight online sites set to debut, including a late rush by Caesars Entertainment, which yesterday received a last-minute approval from state gambling regulators to join the fun.
A recently updated listing of approved gaming regulators on the New Jersey internet gaming permit holders page confirms that two new licenses have been granted for Caesar’s-related operations — one for the Caesars property itself, and another for Caesars’ “Bally’s” brand name, which also operates one of Caesars’ four land-based Jersey casinos.
Whether a Bally’s-branded online site appears in the immediate future remains uncertain, but Caesars officials wasted no time in announcing the debut of three online-gambling sites available to people within New Jersey’s borders. Within the last two hours, Caesars issued an official press release promoting CaesarsCasino.com, HarrahsCasino.com and WSOP.com as the first three Caesars-branded sites to be offered. (The image at top right is a PR graphic for the new CaesarsCasino.com site.)
All three sites will be offering online poker to anyone age 21 and over who logs on to the sites from within New Jersey’s borders. All three sites will also include online casino games as well, according to today’s release, including the WSOP-branded site, which one could have assumed might have received some poker-only differentiation. Instead, Caesars Entertainment has opted to grab customers wherever they might appear, and will offer all available games across all brands.
In an interesting twist, the three sites represent only half of the six Caesars-licensed sites that have now been approved, as three more, tied instead to international software giant 888 Holdings, aren’t even mentioned in today’s release. Those three are us.888.com, us.888poker.com and us.888casino.com, which will also offer the same variety of games. Further, all of the sites (including WSOP.com) are listed under the Bally’s license, with the single exception of CaesarsCasino.com itself.
All six of these Caesars sites have yet to go live, with the launch time for all new New Jersey sites scheduled for 6 pm EST tonight. The first debut period will last for only eight hours, until 2 am local time, with a matching eight-hour test period slated for Friday. The last three days of the five-day soft launch will see 24-hour play, if all goes according to plan.
The six Caesars sites will join an expanded list of others from competing New Jersey casinos, far beyond the five brands and sites FlushDraw reported on last week.
Here’s the complete list of online sites now approved by New Jersey regulators to offer online gambling services in the state. In all, as many as 13 sites may take part in today’s soft launch:
BORGATA
Platform: BWIN
• www.Borgatacasino.com
• www.Borgatapoker.com
• www.NJ.Partypoker.com
CAESARS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT (Bally’s license)
Platform: 888
• www.HarrahsCasino.com
• www.WSOP.com
• us.888.com
• us.888poker.com
• us.888casino.com
CAESARS INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT (Caesars license)
Platform: Amaya
• www.CaesarsCasino.com
TROPICANA
Platform: GameSys
• www.tropicanacasino.com
• www.virgincasino.com
TRUMP PLAZA
Platform: Betfair
• www.betfaircasino.com
TRUMP TAJ MAHAL
Platform: Ultimate Gaming
• www.ucasino.com
New Jersey officials, in confirming these sites, went so far as to post a warning about other sites, even those pending from other New Jersey casinos awaiting online approval. “Any site not included on this list is NOT approved to offer Internet gaming in the State of New Jersey,” read the state’s disclaimer.
As for Caesars Entertainment, the online division of the casino entertainment appears poised to strike fast and make up for lost time. Caesars confirmed that many of its land-based loyalty programs will be extended to its online sites as well.
According to Caesars Interactive Senior Vice President Geoffrey Stewart.,””We are excited to be launching three of the most iconic U.S. gaming brands online for those inside New Jersey borders. With industry-leading technology and the loyalty benefits of our Total Rewards and Action Club programs, we know consumers will quickly see why CaesarsCasino.com, HarrahsCasino.com, and WSOP.com are some of the best places to play online casino games for real money in the Garden State. The fun and action found online will reflect what our players have come to expect from our land-based properties for decades.”
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