New Jersey Window Closes - 37 Companies Apply

An announcement came this week from the New Jersey Division of Gaming that a total of 37 companies have applied for licenses regarding the online gaming venture that's soon to 'go live'. The new real money online gambling market is set to open up later this year, and now that the deadline for application has passed the full amount of companies has been revealed and now they must play the waiting game for approval. David Rebuk, the Division's Director, stated that, "We see this as the first round of filings and we expect that more applications will be filed as the start of Internet gaming moves closer, the July 29th deadline does not preclude someone from filing for a license in the future. All proposals will be considered as they are received."

Names of the companies will not be revealed until after approval, however some of them are common knowledge having already announced online partners. It's known that 10 of the 12 casinos located in Atlantic City have applied for licenses and partnered up with online gaming service providers, with the outstanding 2 being Revel Casino and the Atlantic Club Casino. The well documented reasons being that the Atlantic Club pulled out of its deal with PokerStars and that Revel has recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Stars owners the Rational Group have, however, partnered up with Resorts Casino Casino and are therefore in the mix, as are 888 Holding with Caesars Entertainment, bwin.party with The Borgata Hotel and Spa and of course Nevada's Ultimate Gaming. Ultimate Gaming, the only Nevada regulated online poker site have partnered up with Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, and all going well, will be operating in both New Jersey and Nevada. New Jersey was the third state in the US to regulate and therefore legalize online gambling with sites expected to be up and running on November 26th.