Job creation was never a major selling point for legalizing online gambling in New Jersey, but it was never forgotten either.
Now providers for the state’s 14 licensed online gambling sites face a May 1 deadline to move workers focusing on customer service, fraud detection and accounting into New Jersey.
While not expected to be the employment boom brought about by Atlantic City’s brick-and-mortar casinos—all internet gaming in the state has to be based in Atlantic City—any new jobs for the struggling resort will help.
But just how many jobs will be created is still unclear. As of yet, no official figures on jobs created have been released.
But some casinos have begun talking about jobs.
Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which holds permits for Bally’s Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City, told the local Press of Atlantic City that 47 new jobs in two offices will be in place by May.
Caesars Interactive spokesman Seth Palansky said those jobs include workers for both of Caesars Interactive’s online gambling partners, 888 Holdings and Amaya Gaming Group, and will mean offices opening in Northfield, Atlantic County, and Secaucus, Hudson County.
The 47 jobs, Palansky said, are dedicated solely to New Jersey internet gambling and do not include shared-service employees through other Caesars properties.
“We’re optimistic that there’s plenty of opportunity in New Jersey,” Palansky told the paper. “As the industry grows it’s likely that we will need more folks, particularly on the customer-service side.”
Part of that optimism comes from the state legislature were several bills have been introduced to allow New Jersey to become a hub for online gaming both in the U.S. and internationally. One bill would allow international online companies to base themselves in New Jersey to gain legitimacy from New Jersey’s regulatory process.
If such efforts succeed, the state could gain as many as 20,000 jobs. But for now, the amount created will be much lower.
State Sen. James Whelan, co-sponsor of the bill to allow international operators in the state, said online gambling was never expected to be a huge job creator.
“I’ve tried to downplay the expectations that this in and of itself was going to be a huge job creator, because I don’t think it was ever sold that way,” Whelan told the Press. “It was intended to keep some of the properties here going with more jobs coming if we get the hub status. But this will never be the kind of job creation that comes from brick and mortar.”
