New Jersey Online Gaming Soft Launch Update
New Jersey real money online gaming is in its third day. There have been several glitches reported. Little action has been seen at most sites. Many of the chips used by players were provided by the sites through initial seed money.
Golden Nugget Mystery
Golden Nugget received last minute approval to launch during the five-day test period. Golden Nugget and four URLs were added to the approved list published by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). The Golden Nugget websites were launched but it appears real money play never materialized. The Goldennuggetpoker.com website still says “coming here soon”. Clicking on the real money poker link takes players to nj-casino.goldennuggetcasino.com where a “We’ll be back soon” message appears. The Goldennuggetcasino.com forwards to the same nj-casino URL and gives the same announcement.
Golden Nugget originally had four approved URLs on the DGE website. That list was later updated with the poker related domains removed. The two casino URLs are still listed but the sites are inactive.
All Remaining Approved Sites Active
The other six casinos and related sites that received approval to launch during the testing period are live with varying degrees of success. Some sites have experienced temporary downtime during periods when they could operate to address issues that were discovered.
Issues Facing New Jersey Sites and Players
The biggest complaint from New Jersey players is geolocation. Wi-fi Positioning System is being used by all but one site. The system is not yet perfected in the eyes of New Jersey players. There are numerous complaints about it that are preventing players from accessing online poker and casino games. It appears to be a major issue in rural areas.
Some sites are telling players that cell phone triangulation will be available after the testing period. That is the technology used in Nevada.
Geolocation is also causing problems for players that run remote access programs like TeamViewer. These must be uninstalled before logging into real money New Jersey sites to prevent players from logging in from outside the state.
Several websites related to New Jersey gaming are incomplete. That issue is slowly being resolved. Some support responses are slow or nonexistent. These are issues that should be expected during the soft launch period.
Issue Unique to WSOP and 888
WSOP and 888 use the same poker software but do not share player pools. These two platforms cannot be open at the same time. Some poker players prefer to play across multiple sites at the same time, especially considering the small player pools currently offered in New Jersey. It will be impossible to play WSOP and 888 simultaneously on the same computer.
Some Sites Opting for Casino Games Only
Two Caesars Entertainment casino sites and Tropicana are not offering online poker. Caesarscasino and Harrahscasino.com spread only casino games and offer no link to the related WSOP.com poker website. Tropicana’s partner has yet to develop online poker software. The Gamesys online poker platform is expected to launch in early 2014, according to Pokerfuse.
Site are operating for 16 hours today. Sites will reopen on Sunday at 8am and operate 24 hours a day after that assuming the requirements of the test period are satisfied.