New Jersey could be a magnet for international gaming companies.

Under the new online gambling law passed in New Jersey, Atlantic Cit casinos can offer Internet gambling on their own or partner with another company to provide the technological infrastructure, software, and expertise needed to operate an online gambling system. The gaming platform will also need to perform complex authentication and security measures to ensure all gamblers are of legal age and are playing within state lines.

While all bet-taking servers must be physically located in Atlantic City, the brains and brawn of the technology could come from anywhere. And that’s what some of the largest and most well-known international gambling companies are betting on.

PokerStars, 888 Holdings, and Bwin.Party are just a few of these companies that have been mentioned as potential partners in Atlantic City’s brand new internet gambling market. Social gaming firms refuse to be left out with even Zynga keeping an eye on the the East Coast Las Vegas.

“It’s going to be a combination of gold rush and laboratory,” said Joe Brennan Jr., director of Interactive Media and Entertainment Gambling Association, in a Press of Atlantic City article. “It’s likely you’re going to see those companies make a play for Atlantic City. If they [Zynga] are going to get into the business, they are going to have to make a play for New Jersey.”

Of course, partnerships already exist between land-based Atlantic City casinos and off-shore gaming firms. Bwin.Party has an online poker partnership with the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, which is owned by Boyd Gaming and MGM Resorts. Caesars Entertainment is partnered with 888 Holdings in the state of Nevada.

New game developers may have an uphill battle, especially in an already competitive market between companies who have been providing online casino games since the Internet was created.

For the time being, state regulators still need to establish rules and guidelines to govern the industry, a process that could take months. Said David Rebuck, director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement in New Jersey, in the Press of Atlantic City article:

“Our main concern as regulators is to ensure that those that create their account have the financial ability to create their account. They are of age and that they are not compulsive gamblers and excluded, and when they wager in the state of New Jersey, their location is proved with a high degree of certainty (and) with absolute certainty that they are within the corners of the state.”

Author: GamesAndCasino