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David L Rebuck, Director of the NJ Department of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE), Said Tuesday at this week's SBC Summit North America in the Meadowlands that he has long embraced online gambling since the activity legalized in the Garden State back in 2013.
Yes that's before a 2018 ruling by the United States Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). New Jersey had already legalized online poker and casino games. At the time there was no competition.
Rebuck said during the panel discussion: “I think you have to go back and talk about the state of New Jersey. Initially, casino gaming in the state of New Jersey was a boom and so successful, but there was no competition.
“With this success of casino gambling in the United States, in Nevada, as well as in New Jersey, and in other states that copied it, all of a sudden, you have this massive explosion of casino gambling, legalized gambling in the United States.
“That being said, now you have a lot of competition, a lot of saturation, a lot of choices for consumers, and the industry was struggling with the changes to compete.”
Rebuck noted the state's declining casino revenues and need to innovate. He said the industry had to take the plunge with internet gaming with many casino jobs on the line.
He said: “The risk was, in our sustainable gaming industry, Atlantic City is going to collapse. If it collapsed, the economic development, the jobs, and the opportunities that were supporting South Jersey would be very detrimental. It happened a little bit, as this growth went on with the internet and sports because we closed four casinos, we closed four of the 11 casinos there.
“I will assure you that, being the leader overseeing that, that was a very depressing day. Thousands of people are out of jobs and have no idea what they’re going to do with the rest of their life. So gaming, with the expansion and the changes that were made, was done to prevent that from expanding beyond what it did.
“Today, I feel very strongly that we’re in a very good position in South Jersey, and in the state for the gaming industry living up to its part of what it has to do for economic development, steady jobs, and being an entertainment industry.”
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
