New Jersey online gambling registration process unveiled



The state started last night with a 'soft launch' and now players await 6PM tonight when they can again try their luck . . . at getting an account open and funded.

Well New Jersey is finally in the online gambling game. The state started last night with a 'soft launch' and now players await 6PM tonight when they can again try their luck . . . at getting an account open and funded.

There are rules, the geo-location nightmare and the fact that players must give up a ton of personal information just to register. Players have already reported being shut down as not playing from within the states' borders even when they are as close as Ventnor, the next town down the beach from Atlantic City, where by law, all of the game servers must be located. The rules pages on the sites we checked are loaded with extras, including notes about withdrawals and having to refund each bank that you deposit from, each card, if allowed and a string of verification that must be sent in prior to withdraw.

Current online players are used to sending in forms, but will residents who give their social security number cry foul when asked to send a utility bill to prove they live within the state when a withdrawal is requested? Players will also have to send in the front and back of any card used to deposit AND a copy of their photo ID. And that is if they can get their credit and debit cards to even work at the new legal and regulated websites. Several banks have indicated they will not authorize online gambling transactions, including giants Bank of America and Wells Fargo, despite Internet gambling being legal in New Jersey.

The most glaring difference between these new casino sites and existing offshore sites is in the signup process. A quick perusal of several of the shiny, new NJ online gambling sites shows that players will be required to put in their full Social Security number during the registration process, as well as their birth date. Almost all of the gamblers that we have ever spoken to don't want to give an SSN number anywhere, let alone on a gambling website. In addition to invasive personal information, a mobile phone number is required for registration. This requirement is to confirm the players geo-location (that they are physically within the borders of NJ). However, this may be viewed by players as ultra-intrusive, since none of the sites we checked let potential players know the reason for providing a cell number is not for a call, but for location verification.

Offshore operators have long told us that the longer and more difficult the registration process, the more likely a potential player is to move on to the next site. Only in New Jersey, all of the sites are going to ask for this personal  information. This may mean that droves of players, simply move on and unfortunately for New Jersey's fledgling online industry, never signup to play for real money at any of the sites. Until players get more comfortable with the new websites, their rules and the amount of personal information required, do not look for the floodgates to open and players to rush into online gambling in New Jersey.


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