PalaCasino.com has opened for business in New Jersey and completed a five-day test of its site.
Pala Interactive, the online gambling company started by the Pala Band of Mission Indians in California is the first tribal casino in New Jersey to be granted a transactional waiver by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The move is seen as a big step for the company, which hopes to quickly begin online gambling in California if it is approved there.
PalaCasino.com is partnered with Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in New Jersey.
The site offered a number of enticements for players helping to test the site during the five-day soft launch. Players were asked to register an account at PalaCasino.com, deposit up to $50 into their players account—to test the deposit system—and then play a minimum of 5 games and 25 bets. Players will see their daily deposits fully refunded, as well as earn an additional $25 per day that they participate in the beta test upon completion of an online survey.
The company expects a full launch of the site this week after approval from state regulators. The site includes more than 90 games and a daily free spin on a slot game. The company expects to offer live poker in nearly 2015.
“Our launch in New Jersey is a huge step for the company, and we want to make sure we’re rolling out one of the best, most user-friendly casino experience on the market,” said Jeremy Clemons, Pala Interactive’s chief marketing officer. “We value the input we’ll receive from our beta testers and look forward to getting our beta launch test program running.”
Jim Ryan, the president of Pala Interactive, responded to questions about his past, particularly when he was president of Excapsa Software, which was in use during the UltimateBet scandal in 2006. The software was used to reveal player’s cards to specific other players, resulting in more than $20 million in player losses. Ryan said he was unaware of the plot.
“I had no knowledge of it, was not involved,” Ryan told the Associated Press. “It was incredibly regrettable. It was a pretty sophisticated scheme.”
He denied that the current Pala software platform is anyway related to the Excapsa product.
“Part of my baggage in the social media world is that people say the Pala platform is the UB platform,” Ryan said. “It is not, in any way, shape or form. We took great pride in building a totally new site with state of the art anti-fraud protections. People coming to Pala are guaranteed a fair and safe experience.”
Ryan went on to become president of PartyGaming and helped to engineer the merger with bwin.
Meanwhile, online payments provider Optimal Payments has teamed up with Pala Interactive online gambling sites in the U.S.
Pala Interactive will have access to credit and debit cards, electric checks, the NETELLER stored value service and various alternative payment option through Optimal Payments, the company said in a release.
Pala Interactive has been granted conditional approval by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to begin online gambling in the state through a partnership Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The site has started its soft-launch and could be fully live by this week.
“A key element of our strategy is to partner with best-in-breed providers, such as Optimal Payments, that bring expertise in payment processing and risk management services,” Pala Interactive chief executive officer Jim Ryan said. “Together, we will address the needs of the regulated US gaming market, state-by-state.”
