Stand back, a tidal wave is approaching the U.S.
Added: Aug. 6, 2013
Actually, perhaps a better analogy is like sharks in the water and the fishing boat first mate throws a bucket of cut up fish in the water. The water suddenly comes alive as the sharks pounce. It becomes a feeding frenzy. Interestingly, that’s what the online gambling arena is starting to look like in the United States.
The most recent example of this feeding frenzy comes to us from the state of New Jersey. You may be aware that New Jersey is one of the few states to have actually passed laws allowing some sort of online gambling. The other two states are Delaware and Nevada. So far, only the state of Nevada has an established legal entity offering online gambling. The quirk with the law in Nevada is that it is only available to people actually in the state of Nevada.
Back to New Jersey and the feeding frenzy. Just recently, the New Jersey Gaming Enforcement Division (GED) made a public announcement about the recent application deadline. GED officials stated that as of the initial deadline, thirty-seven companies have applied for a slice of the online gambling pie. Wow, that’s a fairly large number of companies to apply.
You should know that the way the law in New Jersey works is that this first application is just one step in the process. GED officials went on to explain that the names of the companies applying won’t be released unless and until they are actually approved. Also, apparently there were a variety of firms that made it under the wire to meet the deadline. The first companies applying included payment processing firms, software development companies, networking providers and others associated with online gambling operations.
What’s all this fuss, why the big rush and the big announcement? This is a huge deal because there is an up and coming launch date of November 23, 2013. In other words, online gambling is set to go live in a just a bit more than 90 days. Officials at the New Jersey GED went on to explain that other companies can continue to apply but that only those companies that applied before this recent deadline are allowed to be licensed and operating as of November 23.
Well there you go. Now this sudden feeding frenzy by online gambling vendors makes sense. Obviously, the companies that met the deadline want to get in there now and get the first mover advantage. By the time other companies apply and are approved, the first online gambling vendors may well have established their own brand and loyalty.