people bet horses and watch sports at Nassau OTB. Branches might be improved with TVs large added to watch football.
Freeport OTB is enjoyed by those who bet and work there. It should not close based on the imagined dictates of those who may never have worked and/or bet there.
New Jersey Now Allows Gambling via Internet
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: November 26, 2013
New Jersey began allowing Internet gambling on Tuesday in a much-watched
bet that there are untapped sources of revenue on bedside iPads and
cubicle desktops, and even among people checking their phones while they
wait in line for coffee.
Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times
Tobin Prior’s company, Ultimate Gaming, is operating
online through the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.
Wayne Parry/Associated Press
A computer screen in Atlantic City shows an Internet roulette game.
Gambling analysts say it is the most significant development since
casinos opened in Atlantic City over three decades ago, ultimately
setting off what became a furious competition among states for a share
of the take.
Eight other states have legislation pending that would allow Internet
gambling. Delaware and Nevada began offering some online gambling this
year. But New Jersey is considered the first true test case because it
allows a full range of casino games — not just poker — and its much
larger population offers the scale to see whether online gambling can
meet the bold predictions for revenue and tap into a younger, more
web-dependent demographic without stealing customers from struggling
casinos.
Gov. Chris Christie,
a Republican, who signed the legislation allowing Internet gambling
this year, is counting on that gambling to generate $1 billion for the
state’s casinos in its first year, bringing in $150 million in tax
revenue to help balance the state budget.
Ratings agencies and gambling industry analysts said that estimate was
hugely inflated; one forecaster, H2 Gambling Capital, predicted that
online gambling will produce about $300 million for New Jersey casinos —
or about $45 million in tax revenue.
But H2 Gambling Capital estimated that the market in the United States
could be worth about $9 billion in the next five years, particularly if
large states such as California that are now considering online gambling
begin to allow it.
Analysts are watching to see not just whether New Jersey can make money,
but also whether new technology can guarantee that bets are placed only
within state lines and by people older than 21, as the legislation
requires. They are also watching whether, as some fear, the online
expansion will put gambling addiction a mere click away.
The official debut on Tuesday was only the beginning of what promises to
be a political fight. Legislators are already pushing to allow
international companies to operate in New Jersey; the current law allows
Internet gambling only through a limited number of casinos.
On the other side, Sheldon Adelson, one of the largest casino operators
in the world and a major Republican donor, has pledged to fight state
and federal laws that would allow more Internet gambling — a stance that
is bucking most of the industry.
“The Internet is the next frontier not just for gaming but for every
industry,” said Geoff Freeman, the president of the American Gaming
Association. “You can look at industries that have seized the potential
of the Internet to leverage and grow their business. Then there are
those companies like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video who tried to force
people to consume their products how they wanted us to consume them, and
went out of business.
“As an industry, the question is how do we get out ahead of this.”
Executives at online gambling companies argue that it exists illegally
already and may as well be tapped for profit and tax revenues, and
regulated to protect players.
Worldwide, online gambling is now a $33 billion market, and $3 billion
of that comes from illegal bets placed in the United States, according
to the gaming association.
“It’s a new era of using the technology to meet what regulators are
concerned about, to protect our children and our data,” said Tobin
Prior, chief executive of Ultimate Gaming, which is operating games
through Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
Gambling online was largely accepted in the United States from the late
1990s until 2006, when Congress passed a law that made it illegal for
gambling companies to accept bets online for “unlawful” transactions.
Many companies left the market, leaving less well-regulated operators
that in several cases turned out to be laundering money.
In early 2011, the Justice Department indicted the heads of three
companies operating online poker in the United States. But later that
year, the department issued a ruling saying that only sports bets were
unlawful. States, already in a fierce competition for casino customers,
moved quickly to take advantage of the new market.
The legislation signed by Mr. Christie was a lifeline to Atlantic City
casinos, which have been losing customers to new casinos in New York and
Pennsylvania. Under the law, online gambling companies have to operate
through the casinos.
Seven casinos were approved for a “soft launch” that began last week,
with a trial offered to invited guests. State gaming officials said they
were surprised at how many people accepted those offers — about 10,000.
Six casinos — all but the Golden Nugget — were approved for wider play
starting on Tuesday..
The state and the casinos sent testers outside the state to test
technology that is supposed to guarantee that bets come only from within
New Jersey. None of those testers succeeded in breaking through, though
casinos said some others did. Other gamblers in New Jersey tried to get
onto the sites but could not. And some banks and credit card companies
blocked customers from getting access.
“It’s taking a bit of time for these guys who exited in 2006 to be
reassured that the players who are here now are bona fide,” said Brian
Mattingley, chief executive of 888.com, which operates in all three states that offer online gambling.
David Rebuck, director of the State Division of Gaming Enforcement, said
most of the bets during the trial period had been placed on computers,
not mobile devices, and had been concentrated where the state expected,
in cities in the northern part of the state, such as Hoboken, with its
sizable population of people in their 20s and 30s. “We were inundated
with people trying to get in,” he said.
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