George Rover, the deputy director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement in New Jersey, talks about the progress of online gambling from an online gambling regulation’s perspective.
Becky Liggero: First of all, let’s talk about the state of online gambling within New Jersey right now and how it is progressive for the past 6-12 months.
George Rover: We’ve been very pleased from the regulatory standpoint. I know some people feel that the revenue numbers are below expectations but for the division and gaming enforcement standpoint, our concern had to do with integrity issues, issues of geo-location, responsible gaming and we feel that in cooperation with the operators, casino licensees and platform providers, the product is working excellent. And so we believe that the revenue numbers will follow and it just gonna take a little bit of time.
Becky Liggero: From your perspective, what kinds of move these operators and suppliers do to help to get those numbers up?
George Rover: Well, we had a number discussion with them. And some of the things we’re looking at is getting affiliates to market better and to bring on affiliates who are experts in marketing. We also feel that the user interface is getting better in each site. We heard about two main issues.
Payment processing is always still an issue. We are working with the controller in Washington and Department and Treasury in Washington and again we’re trying to get a better guidance to allow credit card companies to feel more comfortable taking bets from online wager.
Becky Liggero: I know that you’ve sent some letters to the affiliates to ask them to please stop promoting the international-licensed website set offices in New Jersey. What else do you have plans to make sure that New Jersey’s citizens are staying on regulated sites in New Jersey.
George Rover: First of all, part of it is advertising. I think the industry is going to indicate to a number of folks that at least if you’re in a regulated sites, you know you’re gonna get paid and you know the quality of the game and the integrity the game has preserve. From enforcement’s standpoint, we have a number of things in the work. When we do write a letter like that and threaten potential sanctions, we mean it. And not only against the affiliates but we’ll also be looking at the unlicensed sites themselves. And I can say, stay tune…because we mean it.
Becky Liggero: And here at the conference, everyone is talking about PokerStars and Amaya and I know that you cannot comment on toomany details about Amaya’s application in New Jersey but what are you taking into consideration when it comes to providing Amaya potentially licensed.
George Rover: There are numbers of consideration as you point out it is under investigation and we never comment on pending investigation but there are number of considerations. Some of them are when you look at the justice department settlement with PokerStars, it specifically allowed PokerStars to continue in the online gaming business using PokerStars and Full Tilt name. There is no reference there to detain assets or quarantining any of their assets. And in the legislation the detaining of assets are not included. And we also point out that our online operators now have been up and running for eight or nine months. They’ve have a quite a bit of head start. All of those factors will go into a final determination as to whether or not the acquisition by Amaya of PokerStars meets our regulatory standards.
