New Jersey’s Internet Casino, Poker Sites get Advice from Rutgers University

New Jersey gaming regulators are serious about improving their 3-year old iGaming market. They want to focus on how to attract more customers to the state’s regulated internet casino and poker sites, and at the same time, find ways to better protect those customers from the potential dangers of problem gambling.

When you need smart advice, you go to smart people who know how to conduct such an investigation. That’s exactly what the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement did when it commissioned the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University School of Social Work to conduct a study on iGaming in the Garden State.

Encouraging Responsible Gambling

The number one goal of the report was to give regulators and operators keen insight as to how players are using the responsible gambling tools provided. The state set up strict guidelines that require all licensed operators to provide such tools, and according to the study, it is working, at least to an extent.

The Rutgers research team discovered that about 14% of all New Jersey gamblers who accessed the state’s internet poker and casino sites in 2015 made use of at least one of the available responsible gambling tools. These tools include the ability to set deposit limits and loss limits, as well as time-sensitive exclusions, such as a 3-day “cool off” period or perpetual “self-exclusion” from online gambling.

“Next to self-excluding, setting deposit limits was the most popular feature, followed by limiting the amount of time spent gambling,” said Center Director Lia Nower. The report indicated that women were more likely to invoke self-exclusion, while men had a tendency to opt for other limitations.

Nower also pointed out that players who made use of the deposit and/or loss limiting tools wagered less money, on average, than those who chose not to use any of the provided responsible gambling features.

The report went on to suggest ways to increase player usage of such tools. Regulators and operators were encouraged to “make sure the features are visible and accessible, to provide education on how to use the features, and to encourage players to opt-in at sign-up when they can make objective choices about their play.”

Promoting NJ’s Internet Casino, Poker Market

Of the individuals who were surveyed in the study, Rutgers found that only 5.3% of them only gambled over the internet. 19.2% accessed both online and land-based casinos, while the remaining 75.5% either don’t gamble at all, or limit their wagering activities to live casinos only.

In reference to those who gambled at both live and interactive venues, Nower said that two-thirds of them were already playing at internet poker and/or casino sites before they became regulated in New Jersey. The other one-third, however, only started playing online when it became legal, and that points a successful finger at cross-promotional marketing.

However, with a vast majority of the state’s non-gamblers and live-only customers having never accessed the state’s regulated internet casino and poker sites, it’s clear that marketing should be greatly reinforced.

Rutgers suggested that operators augment and amplify their marketing tactics to let more New Jersey residents know that online gambling is now being conducted legally in the state, with a regulated industry that protects consumers from the potential pitfalls of depositing with unregulated, offshore operators.