Online gambling giant sets its sights on newly legalized jurisdiction
888 Holdings, one of the world's leading operators of online poker and online casino games, said this week that it will launch its product under its name in New Jersey this year when a ban on Internet gambling ends there.
888 New Jersey
888 has an existing agreement to provide its technology to Caesars Interactive Entertainment, one of the Atlantic City casino operators already preparing to service the online gambling market. But 888 CEO Brian Mattingley said the firm would maximize revenues by launching sites with its own brand.
Mattingley refused to detail how much 888 was willing to spend in the eastern US state, but said it would be carefully controlled. He called expert forecasts of $450m in total annual gaming revenues "a bit rich," but would not be drawn into providing his own estimate of the market size.
US Internet Gaming Center
Thirty seven companies submitted application for New Jersey online gambling licenses before the July deadline, including three firms that are already licensed for land-based gambling. State authorities are expected to make an announcement soon on which companies were successful.
New Jersey is one of three states that has legalized some form of Internet gambling in the past year, and looks set to play a leading role in the expansion of egaming across the USA. The other two states are Nevada, which has already seen the launch of an intrastate online poker site, and Delaware.
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