For five months now, the state of New Jersey has offered online gambling options, from poker to casino game play. In this time frame, the industry has struggled with several issues including connectivity and financial transactions. As soon as one problem seems to be fixed, another issue takes its place. The industry has grown considerably since launching in November of 2013 but financial transaction issues continue to take place in the state.
According to a recent report by the Associated Press, the state is still having problems with credit card companies allowing players to make deposits to online poker and casino gaming sites operated in the state. CAMS LLC, a payment company who operates in the New Jersey, spoke with The Associated Press earlier this week, stating that credit cards are only being accepted from gamblers in the state from 42% to 46% of the time.
CAMS LLC has received payments from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, routing the payments to financial institutions for these casinos online gaming sites. Their research has shown that players are still have difficulties using credit cards to fund their member accounts at such gaming sites in New Jersey.
The CEO of CAMS LLC, Matt Katz, stated that the low acceptance of credit cards in the state, is the ‘single biggest’ factor holding online gaming back in the state. This year, the online gambling industry has created $31.6 million, which is a large number, but nothing close to the statistics that Governor Chris Christie originally estimated for the first year of operation. The numbers were $1 billion for the first year, but with issues such as funding accounts and geo-location, the state has struggled to reach this amount.
Credit card acceptance has stayed at low numbers in the state despite the fact that the United States Justice Department approved in-state online gambling as long as sports betting is not involved. According to Mary Jo Flaherty, the Deputy Attorney General with the State Division of Gaming Enforcement, gamers in New Jersey still have difficulties when using a personal credit or debit card account to fund their individual online gaming accounts.
Flaherty stated that MasterCard has approved 73% of transactions since the state began to offer online gambling while Visa has only approved 44%. Discover and American Express have yet to approve any charges for online game play.
In the article, Flaherty continued to state that the Gambling Enforcement Division is working directly with financial institutions, banks and credit card companies along with regulators and authorities in regards to appropriate payment processing for legalized online gaming in the state.
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