SugarHouse is already the number one New Jersey online casino, because it offers IGT, WMS Gaming, Bally, and Konami online slots.
PlaySugarHouse.com became the first legal online casino in the United States to offer virtual sports betting this week. SugarHouse, which is owned by Rush Street Gaming of Chicago, received licensing from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) for its computer-generated sports events.
Virtual sporting events are not unlike the sports-themed video games, like NFL 17, NBA 2K17, EA Sports UFC, and MLB 17. Competitors’s chances are based on complicated statistics, while results are determined by a random generator. Players bet on the outcome of virtual sporting events the same they would a real world horse race, football game, or soccer match.
PlaySugarHouse offers virtual sports like soccer, horse racing, dog racing, and vehicle racing. Some land-based Las Vegas casinos offer virtual racebooks and sportsbooks. European casinos offer virtual sports, while virtual sports betting is wildly popular in China. This is the first time a legal US player can make a virtual sports bet, though.
Inspired Entertainment Bio
Inspired Entertainment, which made a name for itself in the Asian and European markets, developed the software used by PlaySugarHouse.com. The site launched on Wednesday, as part of Golden Nugget Casino’s larger network of online gambling sites. Since Golden Nugget and SugarHouse Casino partnered on an online casino brand, their partnership has vaulted to number one in the New Jersey online casino market, ahead of the Borgata/bwin.party Internet casino site.
The launch comes days before New Jersey’s lawyers go before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue for legal sports betting on live sporting events. The December 4 Supreme Court showdown with lawyers from pro sports leagues culminates a 5-year legal battle. At stake is the future of legal gambling in 46 US states, where sportsbooks are banned at the moment.
Richard Schwartz on Virtual Sports
Richard Schwartz, the company president of SugarHouse Casino, said virtual sports betting is already legal in the United States. That allows sites in New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, and Pennsylvania to launch virtual sportsbooks powered by Inspired Entertainment software immediately.
Sounding as if he was making a sales pitch, Richard Schwartz described why launching a virtual sportbook right now could pay dividends in the future. Schwartz said, “It’s computer-generated, and not based on any current active live sports event, so it’s not legally considered sports betting. You can acquire a database of people with an interest in sports betting.”
Online Sports Bettor Database
Rush Street Interactive sees virtual sports betting is a long term opportunity, as well. If and when legal sports betting on live events becomes legal, virtual sports bets are a way to bridge the time between live/in-play sports betting. In that way, virtual sports wagers work like “mini-games” found at many unregulated offshore sportsbooks — ways to spend the time until the main wager happens.
Mr. Schwartz said he expects results in other gaming jurisdictions to play out much the same way in the Garden States. He said, “We expect the same results in the New Jersey market. Virtual sports betting is used effectively to fill in time between races and in time periods where there are no real time sporting events.”
DGE: Based on Slot Machines’ RNG Technology
Robert Moncrief, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s deputy chief of the Technical Services Bureau, said the DGE tested Inspired Entertainment’s technology thoroughly. Moncrief said that the random number generators are no different than the RNGs which have produced results for electronic slot machines since the 1980s — it is old and trusted technology. The only difference is the type of game the RNGs power.
The SugarHouse casino affiliated with Golden Nugget Casino has been popular with New Jersey players, because it offers a wide variety of games no other NJ operators provides. SugarHouse has slots from IGT, Bally Technologies, WMS Gaming, and Konami. These are the biggest names in brick-and-mortar slot machine gaming, so New Jersey players flock to the only site which offers a legal way to play the games they’ve enjoyed all these years in live casino environments.
