New Jersey along with Nevada and Delaware are the three states currently offering legal online gambling. NJ through the Department of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) and Casino Control Commission (CCC) allows players, located within the state’s borders, to play at any of the regulated online casinos and poker sites in a safe legal framework since Nov. 21, 2013, when a bill signed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in February of the same year, which authorized regulated online casinos operating in the state, was actually operationalized.
We are speaking about a strong legal environment here, which means that licensed casinos undergo rigorous software testing and records keeping to ensure the fairness of the games. Games at online casinos are subject to the same strict testing procedures as the slot machines on the floor at their land-based counterparts. In addition, regulated casinos pay taxes, specifically in the amount of 15% of their gross gaming revenue, to the state. This sum roughly amounted to $29 million in 2016 only. Security is a top priority too and your personal information is very carefully maintained and safeguarded. That is of utmost importance considering that in order to create an account at any NJ’s regulated online casino sites or poker rooms, you will be required by law exactly, to prevent money laundering and other criminal offenses, to provide very sensitive information, i.e., your name, address, email address, and social security number, and maybe even answer some other private questions needed to verify your identity. You have guarantees about the safety of your funds as well. Anything has been carefully scrutinized and eventually approved by regulators. Heavy fines are foreseen for casinos for even the smaller compliance violations.
Be aware of bogus claims, the only legal online casinos operating in New Jersey are those licensed and approved by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Since a company can’t operate a legal online casino in New Jersey without an Internet Gaming Permit (IGP), only licensed land-based casinos in NJ can operate them, as they are the only entities eligible to even apply for an IGP. Thus only land-based casinos in Atlantic City and their licensed partners are eligible to offer legal, regulated online casino and poker games in New Jersey. That makes an even more cumbersome requirement to get a license and the list of regulated online casino is consequently rather short at the moment and includes:
- 888 online casino New Jersey and online poker, operating in partnership with Caesars and with the online poker site in part sharing the player pool with WSOP NJ.
- Betfair online casino New Jersey, operating throw a partnership with the Golden Nugget.
- Borgata online casino and online poker, the online casino of Borgata property in Atlantic City owned by MGM Resorts and powered by bwin.party’s casino software. Its online poker product shares a platform and player pool with PartyPoker NJ.
- Caesars online casino, the online casino of Caesars Atlantic City powered by NYX Gaming (Scientific Games).
- Golden Nugget online casino, the online casino of Golden Nugget powered by Bally Tech.
- Hard Rock online casino, the online casino of Hard Rock Atlantic City, which, owned by the Boardwalk 1000 entity, opened its doors to the public on Thursday, June 28th only. It was formerly known as Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. The online games are provided by Netent, that after a few months of technical integration can now offer its entire catalog to online punters.
- Harrah’s online casino, operated by Caesars and featuring many of the games also available at the Caesars online casino. Registering here you will automatically join the Total Rewards program offered at all Caesars-owned properties.
- Mohegan Sun online casino, operating under IGP of the Resorts Atlantic City. They offer all players a free slot spin daily, no deposit required.
- Ocean Resort online casino, the online casino of Ocean Resort Casino and powered by GAN, an award-winning developer and supplier of enterprise-level B2B Internet gaming software.
- Pala online casino New Jersey, operating in partnership with the Borgata but powered by a proprietary gaming platform. It is owned by Pala tribal gambling operation in California.
- PartyCasino online casino New Jersey, operating under the IGP of the Borgata and powered by the bwin.party software platform. It is very similar to the Borgata online casino.
- PartyPoker online poker New Jersey, operating under the IGP of the Borgata and powered by the bwin.party software platform. It is very similar to Borgata Poker online with which it shares both platform and player pool.
- PokerStars online casino and online poker, operating under the IGP of Resorts Atlantic City. The online casino is powered by NYX Gaming (Scientific Games), the same software as the Resorts online casino and Mohegan Sun online casino.
- Resorts online casino, the online casino of Resorts Atlantic City, a branch of the company’s land-based Boardwalk property. It is powered by NYX Gaming (Scientific Games). It also offers online poker through its partnership with PokerStars.
- SugarHouse online casino, the third online casino operating under the IGP of Golden Nugget, joining Golden Nugget Casino and Betfair Casino on the way.
- Tropicana online casino, operating under the license of the land-based Tropicana hotel and casino in Atlantic City and powered by Gamesys. Tropicana does not offer an online poker product and has no plans to enter this vertical at the moment.
- Virgin online casino New Jersey, operating throw a partnership with the Tropicana and powered by the same software provider – Gamesys. The online casino products for Virgin and Tropicana are consequently very similar with Virgin operating an additional social poker game.
- WSOP online poker New Jersey, poker brand of Caesars Atlantic City.
You can contact the NJ DGE at (609) 984-0909 / igaming@njdge.org for further details or confirmation that a given online casino or online poker room is actually licensed. They have also a process thanks to which consumers can open a formal claim for any disputes which may arise with a regulated online New Jersey casino. In case of a gambling addiction problem, New Jersey regulators provide an online self-exclusion form, which takes just a few moments to fill and players can use it to immediately block their access to all of New Jersey’s regulated online casinos.
Stated that all regulated online casinos in New Jersey are strictly audited and equally safe, if you want to compare them, you can focus on things that matter to you as a gambler, things like bonus offers and game availability.
The selection of games of a given online casino mainly depends on the software provider and the offer is however large, with hundreds of games that can entice you for hours.
You can find table games that are classic casino favorites such as blackjack, roulette, craps, and baccarat. You can play a huge number of different slots, many also offering progressive jackpots, and endless variants of video poker.
One of the discriminating factors that can make you choose a casino instead of another may be the availability of a particular class of games that not all operators offer at the moment – the Live Dealer games, launched in NJ in August 2016.
Currently, only Golden Nugget Casino and Betfair have this format, with 888 following this summer.
Live Dealer games are streamed in real-time from a live casino stage setting. Players can chat live with dealers and socialize with other players and ultimately they can truly enjoy the casino experience from the comfort of their homes.