The final weekend in November saw a flurry of news events across the North-eastern states, as Pennsylvania and New Jersey all made the headlines with various gambling stories. From Evolution Gaming’s rapid expansion in Pennsylvania’s land-based casinos to New Jersey’s Golden Nugget’s digital gambling wing seeking to break away and form its own online casino, there is much to cover. So, what happened over the weekend?
Pennsylvania Plays Host to Evolution’s Games
First up, we come to Pennsylvania, where the state’s land-based casinos could be getting a spot of international coverage thanks to Evolution Gaming. The latter recently set up studios in Pennsylvanian casinos where they run live dealer action for online firms. The move follows similar steps taken in New Jersey’s land-based casinos. Pennsylvania’s Evolution studios did not have to wait long to find a customer, as the Kindred Group’s chief operator, Unibet, a firm with a very mixed reputation in Europe, has already signed up to join the action.
The move was announced after Kindred started producing NFL-themed casino games for US casinos. Eagles Blackjack was made available last month, while later in the year, The Eagles online slot is set to debut, under license from the Philadelphia Eagles. Pennsylvania now offers a variety of live casino games from Evolution Gaming, alongside West Virginia, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware.
New Jersey’s Golden Nugget Asks…
Over in New Jersey, Golden Nugget recently requested a hearing with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to explore an option to separate its online operations to form an entirely new online casino. Thus far, the Golden Nugget online casino has only been available for players based inside the actual land-based venue in Atlantic City. The idea was to seek a license from the NJCCC to initiate and operate an online casino which would run separately from the brick-and-mortar casino. They did not have to wait long for a reply.
…And Receives in Record Time
The next day, the NJCCC was prepared to listen to their request. In total, the hearing lasted around 90 minutes. The gambling commission rapidly approved the move, which will see the Golden Nugget Online Gaming LLC start trading on the NASDAQ. It is expected to take until the end of the year before the move is finalized. However, now that the transformation has been approved, it is thought that there is little to stop the Golden Nugget from going online in its own right for the first time since its debut in 2013.