Best Legal NJ Online Casinos

NJ online casinos: The how, what and why

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed A2578 into law on February 26, 2013. It legalized online poker and casino sites in New Jersey. The bill had broad support in both chambers of the New Jersey Legislature. It passed the Senate 35-1 and the Assembly 68-5.

There was a 5-day test period that started on November 21, 2013. Online action officially launched on November 26, 2013.

The only companies that are allowed to operate online gambling in New Jersey are the Atlantic City casino owners – the companies behind land-based operations like Caesars, Harrah’s, Resorts, and the Borgata.

New Jersey taxes online gambling revenue at a rate of 15 percent of gross gaming revenue. This is nearly double the 8 percent tax rate imposed on Atlantic City’s gross gaming revenue.

Atlantic City casinos are also required to reinvest 1.25 percent of their brick and mortar and internet gaming revenue into capital projects to create jobs and benefit Atlantic City.

All gaming servers for online casino and poker play must be located in Atlantic City to comport with a requirement of the New Jersey Constitution that gambling only take place within Atlantic City. Online casino and poker action is available to anyone that is physically located in New Jersey at the time of play.

There is no residency requirement. Visitors are welcome to play at NJ’s regulated online gambling sites. And you can set up an account and handle all of the banking related to your account from anywhere in the U.S.

Regulation of online gambling achieves three key aims for New Jersey.

The first is to generate tax revenue for the state, which online gambling has already proven quite adept at doing. Nearly $20 million in taxes directly stemming from online gambling were collected by New Jersey in 2014, and that number certainly increases substantially when you consider the taxes driven by employment and economic activity surrounding legalized online gaming.

The second is to support New Jersey’s land-based casinos. It’s no secret that revenue from brick and mortar gambling in Atlantic City has taken a hit in recent years. NJ fell to number three in the U.S. in terms of gaming revenue for the first time in 2012. Pennsylvania, where many former Atlantic City customers were based, overtook the number two spot that year.

Atlantic City casino revenue has fallen every year since 2006. It is down nearly 50 percent from its peak. But online gambling – which is restricted to land-based casinos and their partners – provides a source of growth, generating some $150 million in direct revenue to date and giving Atlantic City casinos a new way to reach customers.

The third aim is to provide consumers with a truly safe and secure online gambling experience. Illegal offshore casinos have stolen millions of dollars from American customers. And players at such sites have no guarantee that games are fair. New Jersey regulations for online casinos guarantee the safety of player funds, and all games offered at NJ online casinos are full tested and vetted by the cutting-edge lab at the DGE.

NJ online casinos in 2016

In the three years that NJ’s online casinos have been up and running, Atlantic City casinos have enjoyed the benefits of an economic tool that not only provides an additional revenue source, but also a way to motivate new customers to come to the land-based casino properties.

Online casino play in NJ has enjoyed steady growth through 2016. At one point, the state managed to set revenue records in six consecutive months. Industry observers expect that the growth will continue throughout 2016 (although summer months typically tend to bring a slight downturn for online gambling sites, and New Jersey’s online casinos are no different), and see room for expansion among the regulated online casino sites in the state well into 2017.

Currently the online poker market in NJ is hotly contested by three operators: WSOP, Borgata, and PokerStars.

On the online casino side in 2016, it’s a similarly tight battle, with Borgata, Caesars, Tropicana, the Golden Nugget, and Resorts all posting impressive revenue from online slots, roulette, and other games available at their internet gambling sites.

Online casino is a larger market than online poker, generating some six to eight times the revenue in an average month.

2016 is also the year that NJ online casinos have started to dramatically expand the products available at the legal and regulated online gambling sites in the state. For example, over 200 slots have been added in 2016, including popular titles like Guns N’ Roses that can be found both at the online casino site and on the gambling floor. The line between online and live gambling in NJ continued to blur with Golden Nugget’s introduction of live dealer games in August 2016.

NJ online casino games