A New Jersey Assemblymen has introduced a bill that would require online gambling sites in the state to identify and promote the Atlantic City casino they are partnered with.
The bill was advanced by the state’s Assembly, Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee, according to a statement from Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, the sponsor of the bill.
According to the release, the bill would require each online casino to advertise the name of the casino and its Atlantic City property on each gaming website under each website’s license issued by the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The bill would also require that each individual website prominently print, display, announce, or otherwise disseminate that casino property name on each gaming advertisement conducted by the licensee, the release said.
Caputo says the move is needed to help attract gamblers to the city as it faces competition from out-of-state casinos and the state’s own online sites.
“People are not going to Atlantic City because they’re betting on the internet,” Caputo told politickerNj.com. “So they’ve lost more patrons, more room occupancies.”
Caputo has been a noted opponent of online gaming in the past.
“I think it was really counterproductive. It was intended to help Atlantic City, and I don’t think it did,” he said. “Because whatever they gained they lost on the other end.”
However, most casino officials have said that their online sites are drawing in new customers and expanding their databases and not impacting players who regularly visited their casinos. Also, each of the city’s casinos that have partnered with online sites have also launched their own sites under their own casino brand.
Still some sites, such as Betfair.com and VirginCasino.com do not regularly identify their Atlantic City partners—Caesars Atlantic City and Tropicana Atlantic City respectively. Under the state’s online gambling law, sites have to partner with an existing casino. The casinos may partner with several sites.
But online revenue for casino gaming is counted for all of a casino’s websites and partners for the state, and that revenue has been growing in recent months. The casinos took in just under $17 million in online revenue for April.
Caputo, however, maintains that online gaming has contributed to the decline in Atlantic City’s casino business which led to four casino closings in 2014, one year after online gambling went into effect.
Caputo is also a major proponent of a plan to allow two new casinos to be built in the northern part of the state, which would be the first casinos allowed outside of Atlantic City. A ballot question to allow the construction will go before voters in November.
He also feels his bill has ethical implications.
“I think it’s only fair for the public to know which hotel they’re dealing with, because these people—they’re not licensed casinos, they’re actually vendors with these casinos. And that leads into the other discussion of whether or not these companies should be licensed to the same standard as a casino.”
Caputo also used the bill to tout the North Jersey casino plan, saying the expansion bill would offer up to $200 million in annual state casino tax revenue to Atlantic City, to encourage non-gaming development and a more diverse city economy.
However, recent polls have shown that voters in the state are split evenly on the referendum and its passage is uncertain. Also, several financial firms—most recently Fitch Ratings—have released reports saying the expansion would lead to more casino closing in Atlantic City.
The locations of the new casinos are not specified in the referendum, but Jersey City and the Meadowlands are seen as the frontrunners.
In another matter, a bill that would allow betting at New Jersey steeplechase horse races in Far Hills, New Jersey also passed an Assembly panel. The bill is also co-sponsored by Caputo.
The bill would allow a running race permit holder in good standing with the state to coordinate wagering with the Far Hills Race Meeting Association. The annual meeting is a series of steeplechase horse races where wagering is not permitted.
The number of racing days would not be permitted to exceed two days in a calendar year and the measure would allow the races to be simulcast in and out of state, according to the AP.
