New Jersey to conduct i-gaming study

udy of New Jersey’s online gambling activity has been set for January 2015.

The project, managed by the Center for Gambling Studies and overseen by state Governor Chris Christie, will be the first ever study of internet gambling in the US, which is currently legal in New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada, and will give an indication as to the impact of i-gaming in the Garden State.

A statewide sample of 1,500 New Jersey residents will be interviewed via telephone, with a further 2,000 interviewed online, before follow-up interviews 18 months later.

The results will form the basis of four yearly reports that will be sent to Christie by the research team.

David Roebuck, director of the Division of Gaming Enforcement said: “Since the inception of internet gaming, the Division of Gaming Enforcement has been committed to maintaining the highest level of responsible gaming standards and information from a study such as this will only help in that regard.”

Online gambling in New Jersey has not generated as much revenue as was initially forecast, with just $63m spent by customers in the first half of the year, forcing total gaming revenue predictions to be cut by half.

Despite Christie’s projection of $180m being raised in tax revenues for the fiscal year that ended on 1 July, the final figure turned out to be $10.7m.