The Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City made its own little piece of history this week by being granted the first license that allows a casino in New Jersey to proceed with online gambling. According to the New Jersey Department of Gaming the Borgata was the first casino is submit a completed application and therefore the honor of being the first licensed goes to them.
Tom Ballance, CEO and President of the Borgata was handed the permit by DGE Director David Rebuck and said that, “We are honored to receive New Jersey’s first Internet Gaming Permit, Borgata and bwin.party are aggressively pursuing our objective of being among the first to launch online gaming in the state.” The Borgata is owned by MGM and Boyd Gaming and they have a deal in place with B.win as their software provider, however B.win is yet to receive their license...or at least there has been no word of it, but with the Borgata license in place it seems likely that the November launch will happen, even though there was a warning just last month regarding incomplete applications.
Despite the incomplete paperwork the DGE has stated that the planned 26th November launch would go ahead and with 12 casinos all having applied, and 10 of those casinos having announced partnerships it looks set to be a busy marketplace, and as to whether it will succeed or not we are soon to find out. New Jersey has a total population of approx 8.8 million, how many of those residents that wish to participate in this new venture along with those 12 casinos remains to be seen.
