Online Gambling Revenues In Atlantic City Are Maybe Not What They Expected, But Growing Nonetheless
State regulated online gambling may have not started the way that some of the supporters in Atlantic City thought it might, but it’s still providing tax revenue that can’t be denied. When it was first introduced in New Jersey almost 4 years ago the online gambling revenues missed their desired goals and projections used to get the laws passed by upwards of $100 million dollars. Certainly not a good look for the proponents of the laws that were enacted for online gambling in the state. In 2017, however, those numbers have increased substantially. These figures do not include any revenue derived by offshore destinations that function as Atlantic City online gambling options.
The state based online gambling websites in the state of New Jersey suffer from one major drawback in the laws that allow them to exist in the state. They are only legally allowed to provide their services to people that are physically located within the state of New Jersey. Also, the servers of the online gambling websites that are legally regulated out of New Jersey must be physically located within Atlantic City. This is what causes foreign investors to look elsewhere when considering online gambling partnerships. The limited customer base of New Jersey just isn’t substantial enough to warrant a major move into the state. In addition, there are legally licensed offshore casinos that accept players from New Jersey that offer heftier incentives, bonuses and promotions to attract players, effectively cutting into the state’s revenue. The same can be said for the offshore online poker options as well.
For each of the five months before August of this year, the online gambling websites in New Jersey have seen totals of over $20 million dollars consistently. That pushes the total revenue increase since 2013, when the laws were passed, to over $600 million dollars. This is still a far cry from the initial goal of over $1 billion a year but the latest figures in tax collection from casinos in the state based on online gambling is starting to look like a more-than-reasonable source of cash for the state’s annual budget.
The governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie established the tax rate of online casinos at nearly double that of the brick-and-mortar variants at 15%. They are also required to commit at least 1.25 percent of revenues to projects aimed at creating jobs and other benefits to the resorts in which they are housed.
The revenues that were collected from online casinos in New Jersey for the month of July totaled in at roughly $20.6 million dollars. That marks an 18.5 percent increase when compared to the previous year. The overall gambling revenues from brick-and-mortar casinos were expected to rise with online gambling and it did. The revenues from all gambling establishments in New Jersey are currently up 27 percent as a result of the gambling legislature of 2013. The idea was to revive the gambling economy of New jersey and although it didn’t happen instantly, it is starting to pick up steam and prove the doubters wrong.