NJ online gambling revenues for January brings difference of opinions

The US online gambling legislation has split up the country in half, showing that some elements in the country are not ready yet to be part of a modern country where regulated markets sustain the nation's economy. Regulated online gambling in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware have been a complete success; gross gaming revenues (GGR) have shown that this has been an industry totally abandoned by the same US government. New Jersey's figures are what we were all waiting for: gross gaming revenue of US$9.5m from January, according to figures released by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE)

However, politics and economy in the United States bring always a lot of controversy as, despite the greats results from the NJ online gambling revenues, there are still some public figures that do not agree with the development of the online industry. Neither the high number of migrated accounts from unlicensed sites to legal online gaming sites, nor the spectacular gross gaming revenue, have been enough for New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesnaik, who thinks that the numbers are dismal: "Compared to Governor Christie's unrealistic projection, the numbers are dismal. The less than stellar results are a result of PokerStars not being in play, ineffective advertising by internet operators, and banks not allowing their credit cards to be used for internet gaming. I expect those obstacles to be overcome and revenues to steadily grow in the future."

The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is at this time the most successful casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with a total of $3.9 million in January. With these figures, Keith Smith, CEO of Boyd Gaming, which operates the Borgata, thinks that the online gaming industry still has to expand: "Our market-leading performance is testament to the quality of our online product and the power of the Borgata brand. These results also once again demonstrate online gaming's potential to expand our business. About 85% of our online players have not had rated play at Borgata in at least two years, showing there is little overlap with our land-based business. Online gaming is growing our database, creating a long-term opportunity to market Borgata to an entirely new group of customers".