New Jersey gets new online casino
There’s a brand new online casino in the state of New Jersey. Mohegan Sun launched their online casino site earlier this week. While it’s a soft launch, meaning games are only available at certain times, it’s definitely an interesting move. While most online casinos are branded to correspond with actual land-based casinos in the Garden State (Golden Nugget, Resorts, Tropicana, and Caesar’s Palace, for example) Mohegan Sun doesn’t actually have a presence in New Jersey.
There are two Mohegan Sun Casinos — one in Connecticut and another one in Pennsylvania. Mohegan Sun is actually one of the biggest land-based casinos in the United States, second to Foxwoods, also in Connecticut. It’s safe to assume that Mohegan Sun gets a lot of business from New Jersey. Many patrons to the land-based property likely live in NJ, making the online casino a smart bet.
Mohegan Sun actually manages Resorts in New Jersey, too, so the relationship definitely makes sense.
We imagine that you’ll see a lot of cross promotion between the online and land-based worlds. But while New Jersey online casino players are free to head to the land-based Mohegan properties, those visiting the land-based properties can’t necessarily play online.
That’s because you need to be within New Jersey state lines to play, so the online portal is targeted to New Jersey residents or those visiting the state.
So what if you’re visiting Mohegan Sun Casino, you see a promo for the online casino, and you want to play? Unfortunately, you’re out of luck until you head home to New Jersey (assuming you’re from there). Regulated New Jersey casinos use geolocation technology to ensure that those playing online are physically present in New Jersey. If you aren’t, you can play – at least not for real money. However, players should be able to enjoy play money games outside New Jersey.
Even with the geographic restrictions, this is welcome news for online casino players in other states. The fact that Mohegan already has experience with online gaming is definitely a plus in the regulated iGaming market. Many believe that Pennsylvania is the next logical step for state-by-state online casino regulation. Connecticut might not be far behind.
While Mohegan’s entrance into New Jersey is definitely a big plus for the consumer (after all, who wouldn’t want choice) one has to wonder if the market is becoming too saturated. Online casinos have been regulated in New Jersey since November 2013. That’s an almost 2-year head start for many of the online casinos who came online in later 2013 and early 2014.
Are consumers ready to embrace another property? Or will Mohegan Sun Casino fall by the wayside? While there’s always more competition online, what happened last year in the land-based world is definitely cause for concern. Atlantic City saw 4 casinos close their doors, dropping their tally from 12 casinos to just 8.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the New Jersey iGaming scene as well as further developments in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Make sure you stay locked to Palace of Chance to stay in the know.
