Online Gambling Shouldn't Harm Atlantic City Revenue
For those who are opposed to online gambling, it can be fairly easy to construct a laundry list of complaints against its introduction, such as problem gaming, potentially lax regulation, and so forth, but one downside that some people fail to recognize is the impact of Internet-based gambling on land-based casino business.
According to recent polls and the Press of Atlantic City, the loss of gambling patrons isn’t a concern that should be troubling land-based New Jersey casinos. The Press has reported the results of a poll organized by a company called US Gaming Survey that found that if anything, online gambling may have a positive effect on the state’s existing land-based casino businesses.
Their research found that despite the new online gambling bill, which will permit Garden State residents to play online poker as well as access various other forms of online wagering from the convenience of their home or using their smartphones and other mobile devices, fifty-eight percent of respondents had no plans to change their behavior regarding visits to the brick-and-mortar casinos in Atlantic City.
The vice president of marketing for US Gaming Survey, Larry Gibbs, takes this as a positive sign for New Jersey’s struggling casino industry, once the second largest gambling market in the nation, a title that it has now ceded to Pennsylvania. Atlantic City has seen its revenue decline for six consecutive years.
“From the results of this poll, residents in New Jersey and other U.S. states do not indicate that the impending online gaming will cannibalize land-based casino interests or revenue and will possibly mildly increase it,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs also pointed out that being that the experience of logging onto an online gambling site is distinct from that of physically walking through the doors of a casino, oftentimes customers will choose to participate in both modes of gambling and find them to be complementary to one another, thus giving both online casinos and those offline a boost.
Responding to fears held by some that the introduction of Internet-based wagering to the state will issue a painful blow to Atlantic City’s casino industry, some of which are struggling to remain open with jobs potentially in danger, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission Matthew Levinson said, “Everybody is saying that the brick-and-mortars will go away. I don’t see that happening.”
Competition from Pennsylvania has been one of the biggest factors contributing to Atlantic City’s woes. Newer, more modern casino properties located in the Philadelphia area, a reasonably close drive from Atlantic City, have proven to be a draw for patrons who once frequented New Jersey casinos. While New Jersey has beaten Pennsylvania to the punch in terms of passing legislation to regulate Internet gaming, the Keystone State may not be too far behind. Just last week Pennsylvania State Representative Tina Davis (D-Bucks County) introduced legislation that would clear the way for online gambling in that state.
As for just what kinds of games will be on offer to New Jersey residents, the specifics have not been articulated. For that matter, nor has a date when the gambling websites are expected to go live been publicized, though rumor has it that it could be as soon as this fall. In order to access the real money gambling sites, players will have to be at least twenty-one years of age and will need to be located within New Jersey’s borders when logging on.
The state is in the process of hiring an expert to complete the regulation procedure, though again, since the legislation was signed into law by the state’s Republican Governor, Chris Christie, back in February, much of the process has been shielded from public view. Under the terms of the state’s new online gambling law, much of the work of outlining the regulations that will govern the nascent industry have been left up to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
