Bloomberg – The first week of Internet gambling in New Jersey went well, according to the state’s top casino regulator, who says he finally stopped worrying about it.
“I’m pleasantly pleased,” said David Rebuck, director of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. “I’m also very tired because for the last seven days, all I’ve been doing is worrying this was going to crash.”
It didn’t.
Between Nov. 21, when a test of Internet gambling began, and last Thursday, 37,277 accounts had been set up, enabling people to win or lose money on card games, table games and slots — all from computers or smartphones.
That, of course, was the whole point of New Jersey’s law making it the third state to legalize Internet gambling, after Nevada and Delaware. It is designed to bring new money to Atlantic City, whose 12 casinos have been struggling with increasing competition from casinos in neighboring states.
Since 2006, Atlantic City’s casino revenue has fallen from $5.2 billion to just over $3 billion last year.
