Ocean Resort, Hard Rock Casinos Plan Internet Gambling
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey's thriving internet gambling market is about to get bigger.
The two new casinos due to open this summer plan to offer internet gambling.
The Ocean Resort Casino, which formerly operated as Revel, and the Hard Rock casino, which is the former Trump Taj Mahal, have applied for licenses to conduct online gambling in New Jersey.
If approved by state gambling regulators, they would bring to seven the number of Atlantic City casino companies that offer internet gambling.
There are currently 23 approved internet gambling sites in New Jersey.
Kerry Langan, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, confirmed Monday that both casinos have applied for permission to conduct internet gambling.
It would be available only to people physically within New Jersey's borders.
The British gambling technology company GAN revealed in an annual report last week that it has signed a multi-year agreement with AC Ocean Walk LLC, the new owners of the former Revel casino, to provide real-money internet gambling beginning sometime in the second half of 2018.
The company also plans to offer sports betting through the Ocean Resort agreement, assuming the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of New Jersey's challenge to a federal law limiting sports betting to four states that met a 1991 deadline to legalize it. Those states are Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon. A decision is expected by June.
And it also said it plans to offer internet gambling in Pennsylvania when it begins later this year.
Hard Rock did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Internet gambling is the brightest aspect of the Atlantic City casino market right now. It brought in $245 million last year in New Jersey, more than 9 percent of the total revenue won by Atlantic City casinos, and an increase of nearly 25 percent from the previous year.
The Golden Nugget finished first in internet gambling revenue in 2017 with $68.5 million. The Borgata, Caesars Interactive-NJ, Resorts Digital and Tropicana were closely bunched behind, with online revenue ranging from $42.5 million to $48.5 million.
