New Jersey and UK Reach A deal To Share Poker Liquidity

New Jersey based licensed online poker sites could in the near future be sharing liquidity with their counterparts based and licensed in the UK, if regulators are able to work out a few pesky details.

Global Gaming Business has reported that the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), in New Jersey, has reached an agreement, in principle, with UK Gambling Commission with regards to a transatlantic jurisdictional partnership.

David Rebuck, the DGE Director, has cautioned that there are a number of regulatory issues that still needed to be resolved, this includes tax rates, player ID and issues of geolocation as well as various unknown unknowns. However, Mr. Rebuck insisted that they had to start somewhere and that DGE was very serious about this.

The DGE sent letters to their online licensees doing business in the UK, to ask for comments on how they would like a shared liquidity program and how it works. The operators were asked to give heir thoughts by 1st August.

A spokesperson for DGE told GGB that although the transatlantic sharing program would focus initially on poker, there was a possibility that online casino options could eventually be afforded the same access.

The sites in New Jersey conducting licensed gambling operations within the UK are 888 Holdings, Amaya Gaming's PokerStars, GVC Holdings' PartyPoker, Betfair and Gamesys.

The future will tell if all of these operators could be on board, with a proposal, that could principally benefit poker site PokerStars the world's most dominant site what has already been established as a state market leader, despite them only been launched since March.

There are also potential hurdles that could potentiality prevent the New Jersey gamblers from gaining access to the UK-based sites. One of the reasons of the New Jersey's rationale, was the authorization of online gambling during 2013 was to boost Atlantic City's failing casino industry. Therefore, the rules specifically require that all the online gambling servers must be based in Atlantic City.

New Jersey voters are to face a ballot referendum in November that could lift the constitutional limitation to allow two casinos to be built based in north Jersey. If they vote for the amendment to the constitution, this will open the crack a little wider.

If the ballot referendum succeed then a US state will be allowing, and even encouraging, their residents to gain access to online gambling sites that are based in another country, this would be a first.