A five-day trial period of internet gambling kicked off on Thursday night as players invited to casinos to test the system bet real money online.
If all goes well, gamblers in New Jersey will be able to gamble on the Internet starting Tuesday. The only states that gamble online are Nevada and Delaware.
It didn’t go well for Joseph Brenen. An unemployed bartender from Ventnor was excited to try to access any gambling site that would take him. Sitting in a McDonald’s glistening with the Atlantic City Boardwalk casino in the distance, he kept getting security messages saying that he was evicted because he didn’t believe the complex technology designed for all players to be inside the New Jersey border was in his state.
In a possible scenario, the Associated Press said in an article over the weekend quoting online gambling officials, it moved “online fences” away from the state’s borders to prevent athletes from other states from going online to gamble.
So Brenen drove five miles (8 kilometers) inland and five miles north to a highway rest stop, where he still struggled to get online. 메이저 토토사이트
“Over there I was being told I wasn’t in New Jersey,” he said. “Here it doesn’t tell me yes or no.”
Back in his car, he drove from 10 miles (16 kilometers) further west to a chain restaurant 15 miles (2 kilometers) from Atlantic City. One casino website still didn’t recognize him as being in New Jersey. Another site said they couldn’t find him.
“It’s disappointing to know that you’re in a jurisdiction and you can’t go anywhere,” said Brenen, who vowed not to give up.
The seven casinos approved by the New Jersey Gaming Enforcement Administration have provided 14 websites for customers to bet on real money.
Participating casinos include Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Tropicana Casino & Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, Bali Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, and Golden Nuggets.
Tropicana Casino and Resorts on Thursday cancelled after an interview with one of its customers, saying it had not yet received permission from its information technology partner to launch the system.
The testing period is designed to determine if all gamblers are in New Jersey and sophisticated technologies designed to make them at least 21 years old are working correctly. The tests will also evaluate the integrity and functionality of electronic payment technologies and casino games.
Online betting will mark the largest gambling expansion in New Jersey since casino gambling began in 1978.
Alyssa Cooper, a member of the New Jersey Casino Control Board, said it was a “very exciting time” for Atlantic City and the gaming industry.
“With the dawn of internet gaming, we’re on the cusp of perhaps the biggest change and challenge since the opening of our first casino here,” Cooper said.
Hours before the trial began, a state lawmaker announced a proposal to attract foreign online gambling companies. Senator Raymond Resniak’s bill would entice foreign betting companies to set up stores in the state, even though they could only accept bets from overseas gamblers, and would be subject to its famously strong casino regulations.
The reward for New Jersey will be taxed at 15 percent to win and will be paid in a fund to raise $20 million annually for three years for the struggling racing industry. Lesniak said foreign companies want the seal of approval that strict New Jersey rules will bring.