Skill-Based Gaming on New Jersey Horizon

Atlantic City NJ casinos are expected to offer skill-based gaming as a result of new regulations pending from New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE).

Adapted Requirements

Modifications include the allowable percentage of bets collected and prohibitions against casinos from altering the degree of difficulty of a game in progress.

Prevention of any possibility or incidence of collusion or money laundering in multi-player peer-to-peer games will also be addressed in new regulations.

The model of adaptive regulation mirrors the course of adaptations in the state of Nevada last year. New Jersey is looking to rely on devices and technologies approved in the Nevada precedent as grounds for its own launch.

Implementing Games of Skill Online

NJDGE Director David Rebuck emphasized the importance of the new regulations in the state as a major step towards implementation of skill-based gaming in Atlantic City.

The NJDGE has had a mandate to implement online gaming for over a year, actively seeking operators since October of 2014. This represents the first time the NJDGE has revealed specific provisions of conduct and protocol for gaming providers.

Fast-Track Incentive

Rebuck added an incentive to attract operators to the state as well: a fast-track provision to attract gaming manufacturers who bring their skill-based devices to New Jersey before any other jurisdiction: a promise of those devices being in operation on a casino floor within 14 days of approval.

Nevada Precedent

The first skill games have yet to be released in Nevada, so there is no existing precedent for this provision. The gambling versions of popular titles such as Guitar Hero and Angry Birds are rumored to be among the first titles in development.

An interesting note of comparison will be to examine the level of diversity in innovation that New Jersey will achieve as compared to the Nevada launch of original skill-based games.