New Jersey is the early winner as far as Internet gambling is concerned in that new US industry. And with the new laws dictating that you must be located within New Jersey state boundaries to enjoy Atlantic City Internet poker and virtual Atlantic City online casino gaming,a recent release by Caesars Entertainment shows just where their cyber Garden State gamblers are coming from. But those same Caesars execs that announced the figures also say they do not understand exactly why three particular areas are generating the most Internet gambling activity for their websites.
Jersey City, Toms River and Cherry Hill make up the majority of traffic to the Caesars online gambling websites licensed by the state. Numbers go back to late November when online gambling launched. Funneled through the brick-and-mortar casinos in Atlantic City, gambling online in NJ is offered by several companies and multiple websites. But the play at Caesars, one of the more popular Internet casino and poker destinations for New Jersey gamblers, seems tightly focused around those three aforementioned areas. This could perhaps reflect mere transportation problems for those particular gamblers.
Earlier data showed that Internet gambling is in no way cannibalizing the action at physical casinos in the same state. That has been the argument for many anti-Internet gambling arguments. But Sue Schneider, a former chairwoman for the Interactive Gaming Council as well as industry consultant, said that she believes online gaming will continue to “take hold” in areas with disproportionately large numbers of disabled and elderly players, and attract those who don’t usually head to brick-and-mortar casinos. Traveling to Atlantic City Boardwalk casinos for those New Jersey residents could provide “some logistical challenges” and other issues.
And also, in agreement with recently released data that shows Internet gamblers are different customers than physical casino patrons, Schneider says that she believes many of the online gamblers in New Jersey are new customers in a younger socioeconomic group that do not care to go to a physical casino and “play slot machines.” That youthful demographic may also be challenged with transportation issues, and is definitely mobile friendly. It is much easier to whip out your smartphone on your lunch break or any other time you have a few spare minutes, access the legal New Jersey casinos, and play some Texas Hold ‘Em, roulette or blackjack rather than schedule a financially costly and time intensive trip to a real world casino.
She went on to state that there is value in the land-based casinos which go online, as they eventually bring in new people to their customer base. Those online players will in the future head to the physical casinos at some point, but this grows the player pool for the Atlantic City based casinos which decide to offer Internet gambling options on the Web. Customers from those three areas mentioned above spend an average of 43 minutes and 18 seconds per session at Caesars websites. Seth Palansky is a spokesman for Caesars, and he said the company understands that after just 100 days of data, they must be careful not to overanalyze the results. However, if you live in the areas near Jersey City, Toms River and Cherry Hill, expect to get more targeted advertising from Caesars regarding that company’s Internet gambling options.