Best Week of NJ iGaming Signups Since Early December
Monday is the day on which New Jersey gaming officials release the number of accounts created at the state’s new real money online casino and online poker web sites, meaning that as of late, Tuesday has seen a flurry of articles reporting and analyzing the numbers, not to mention making predictions for what kind of figures might be expected on the following Monday.
This week, the news was good, with the number of total signups now growing close to 150,000.
The official number as of yesterday stands at 148,487 signups.
Region – and nation – gripped by powerful chill
Part of the reason that weekly signup numbers hit their highest mark since early December – what was only the second week of regulated, legalized Internet wagering in New Jersey – was the fact that the Garden State found itself in the clutches of the same nasty weather system that has put the nation on deep freeze for days now.
With a “Polar Vortex” and swirling snow rendering a huge number of Americans housebound, clearly many folks in New Jersey preferred to spend their captive time trying out their state’s new betting sites.
Total does not account for signups across several sites
It should be noted, however, that the total number of signups, which are counted from November 25, the day that regulated online wagering sites in New Jersey officially went live, does not account for players who may have created user profiles at multiple sites.
There is no way of knowing how many unique individuals are represented in the 148,487 total, however it can be assumed that many players are likely to sign up at a few of the different real money online casinos and poker rooms, especially given that many of the sites have been running excellent promotions and tournament offerings through the holidays and into the beginning of January.
Impact on land-based properties remains unclear
And while many pundits have speculated that increased access to online wagering could spell disaster for brick and mortar casinos if patrons choose to forgo the in-person experience in favor of accessing games on laptops, desktops, and mobile devices, last week the CEO of the Borgata in Atlantic City, Tom Ballance, said that he doesn’t believe such a scenario is likely to occur.
“When we match up databases, the great majority of players who were playing online have not been to Borgata in well over a year. And the vast majority have made fewer than two trips in the past year. So it’s a different customer,” Ballance remarked last week on an appearance on the television show Squawk Box.
Ballance went on to note that there is a gender gap between those who play at online gambling sites and those who come to the land-based casino.
“It [online betting] skews more male than the conventional brick-and-mortar customer,” he said.
