GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 29 - July 2014

Successesand failures According to the Press of Atlantic City , roughly 12 percent of people attempting to gamble online in New Jersey during the firstweek of regulated online gaming (Nov. 26-Dec. 2) were wrongly blocked from play due to geolocation errors. The GPWA tried accessing several sites dur- ing thatfirstweek fromHaddonfield,N.J., just ninemiles from the state'sborder, but was consistentlyblocked. However, Borgata Senior Vice President of Operations Joe Lupo believes geoloca- tion has been one of the company's big- gest successes thus far. "We needed tomake sure that those from outside the state were not getting in," Lupo said in a phone interview in May. "We did an excellent jobwith that. There were some issues early on verifying peo- ple fromwithin the state, but I think that was to be expected to a degree and we quicklymade thenecessaryadjustments." AndLupo is right. In a January interview with OnlinePokerReport.com, GeoComply CEO Anna Sainsbury said the company is "seeing about a 95percent success rate" in verifying locations for eligible players. GeoComply is the geolocation provider for 10of the state's 11 licensed sites. But thereare still bumps in the road, large- ly in thepaymentprocessing sector.Credit card issuers J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo andAmericanExpress currently do not allowplayers tomakedeposits on any online gaming sites in theU.S. Part of the reason is fear of the UIGEA, while others simplydon'twant theheadacheof dealing with Internet gamblers. "Gambling services, historically, account for a high number of cardmember credit losses and customer service disputes," American Express spokeswoman Sanette Chao told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in January. Payment processors have been extremely cautious, but perhaps their fears areover- blown. InMay, aNew Jerseywomanwas accused of creating a fake identity theft claim in order to cover up nearly $10,000 indebt she allegedly rackedupgambling online. State police reviewed her bank- ing, online gaming and Internet search records and concluded the woman was responsible for thedebt. "Suspicious transactions are thoroughly investigated, and as this case shows, at- tempts todefraudNew Jerseycasinoswill not be tolerated," New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) Director DavidRebuck said in a statement. That case should be an encouraging sign for financial institutionswary of themar- ket's risks, yetpaymentprocessingstill re- mains thebiggest roadblock impeding the industry's growth. Players are currently facedwith limitedoptionswhen trying to makedeposits. 42 Affiliates face a different business environment inNew Jersey