New Jersey Issues Conditional Waivers in Advance of Online Poker Live Debut
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) today released a listing of companies who have been granted a transactional waiver allowing them to conduct online gambling operations in the state. The DGE issued 13 such conditional waivers to corporate entities in advance of the planned November 26th rollout of online gambling services by the state’s licensed land-based casinos, with all 13 involving joint petitions involving two or more individual applicants for various forms of New Jersey gaming licenses.
The 13 entities will thus have the go-ahead to continue preparations for the rollout, which actually begins with a five-day, play-money soft launch on Nov. 21st. The 13 entities thus join the five casino-affiliated entities already approved by the state as internet gaming permit holders, a short list that includes the Borgata (as Marina District Development Company, LLC), Golden Nuggett Atlantic City, Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal and the Tropicana.
Now, on to the list of today’s 13 conditional approvals, most of which tie in to the five gaming licenses announced earlier:
• [Joint Petition] Caesars Atlantic City (Boardwalk Regency Corp.), Caesars Interactive Entertainment New Jersey LLC, Amaya (Alberta) Inc., Cadillac Jack Inc., Ongame Services AB, Ongame Network Limited and Amaya Interactive USA Corp;
• [Joint Petition] Tropicana Casino and Resort (Tropicana Atlantic City Corp.), Gamesys Limited and Gamesys US LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Bally’s Atlantic City (Bally’s Park Place, Inc.), Caesars Interactive Entertainment New Jersey LLC, 888 Atlantic Limited and AAPN New Jersey LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort (Trump Taj Mahal Associates LLC) and Fertitta Acquisitionsco LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Golden Nuggett (Golden Nuggett Atlantic City), Bally Gaming Inc. (Bally Technologies), SHFL Entertainment Inc., Amaya (Alberta) Inc., Cadillac Jack Inc., Ongame Services AB, Ongame Network Limited and Amaya Interactive USA Corp;
• [Joint Petition] Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (Marina District Development Company LLC), bwin.party USA Inc., Amaya (Alberta) Inc., Cadillac Jack Inc., Ongame Services AB, Ongame Network Limited and Amaya Interactive USA Corp;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Plaza (Trump Plaza Associates LLC), GameAccount Global Limited, SHFL Entertainment Inc., Amaya (Alberta) Inc., Cadillac Jack Inc., Ongame Services AB, Ongame Network Limited and Amaya Interactive USA Corp;
• [Joint Petition] Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (Marina District Development Company LLC), bwin.party Entertainment (NJ) LLC and bwin.party USA Inc.;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Plaza (Trump Plaza Associates LLC), GameAccount Global Limited and Betfair Interactive US LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Plaza (Trump Plaza Associates LLC), GameAccount Global Limited and CAMS LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Plaza (Trump Plaza Associates LLC) and Betfair Interactive US LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (Marina District Development Company LLC), bwin.party USA Inc. and CAMS LLC;
• [Joint Petition] Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort (Trump Taj Mahal Associates LLC), Fertitta Acquisitionsco LLC and CAMS LLC;
As one can see, 12 of the 13 waivers are being issued in conjunction with the five licenses already issued. Background problems continue to dog the other New Jersey applicants, even including Caesars, which pulled out of consideration for a possible license in Massachusetts when that state found questionable linkage to a NY businessman with alleged Russian organized crime ties.
New Jersey might not share those same concerns — after all, Caesars already operates four land-based casinos in the state — but something for sure is delaying the collective Caesars boat, as only one of the four properties, Bally’s AC, looks as if it might be up and running for the Thanksgiving-week debut.
Then there are the other three Atlantic City casinos, the Atlantic Club, Revel and Resorts International AC (the last with a software deal with PokerStars not among those approved), which definitely won’t be up and running this month.
What we can learn from the above list is that several vendors and software providers are likely to receive final approval. Extracted from the above list, those businesses are: bwin.party, 888 Holdings (and its All American Poker Network), Amaya (and its Ongame platform and related entities), CAMS, SHFL Entertainment, GameAccount Global and Fertitta Interactive (the owners of Nevada’s Ultimate Poker)
At this point the New Jersey picture is becoming more clear. Pending a possible last-second move by Caesars that thrusts more of their casinos into the “approved” mix, New Jersey online poker will debut later this month with either five or six online sites.
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