New Jersey players now have another online gambling option after the Ocean Resort Casino launched OceanOnlineCasino.com on Wednesday.
For the first five days, the casino is in a “soft launch” phase. It will be online for only a restricted number of hours on Wednesday and Thursday with 24-hour play commencing on Friday, July 13.
The game selection is also fairly limited with six versions of video poker, and table games, including blackjack and roulette plus around 50 slots games, many of which are unique to the site. More games will be rolled out over the next few weeks and months.
Sports betting is in the works to be added in Q4 of 2018, but it appears that there are no plans to offer online poker.
Initial promotions include:
The customer loyalty program connects directly to the live casino. Ocean premier points will be redeemable for cash or free play and the program will include the chance to acquire additional live casino benefits such as:
The online casino platform has been developed by GAN, no stranger to the New Jersey online casino market.
The deal with the Ocean Resort is, however, a first for GAN, creating “a converged online and on-property real money gaming experience to guests utilizing GAN’s US-patented technology.”
GAN explained what this means:
“GAN’s Patent, now licensed to Ocean Resort Casino, will enable the client’s guests enrolled in Ocean Premier, Ocean Resort Casino’s loyalty program, to sign up online and instantly link their rewards card to their online account permitting those guests to trade in their reward points earned from on-property gaming for cash online and/or to earn rewards points from Internet gaming, to be subsequently redeemed on-property.”
Ocean Resort opened simultaneously with the new Hard Rock Casino, and both are entering a crowded market. The use of GAN as a strategic partner for Ocean Resorts is hoped to provide a differentiator in the market.
Frank Leone, CEO of Ocean Resort Casino commented:
“GAN delivered efficiently and cost-effectively for Ocean Resort Casino and possesses a strategic patent which will give Ocean Resort Casino a competitive advantage with casino guests in Atlantic City who also choose to gamble online.
GAN CEO Dermot Smurfit believes that his patented technology will set Ocean Resort apart from the crowd:
“We’re privileged to bring this immense property to life online, just as it relaunches in the traditional retail casino market. We’re excited to deliver not just another ‘me too’ Internet casino, but to also bring online for the first time the capabilities unlocked only by GAN’s convergence Patent which may give casino patrons in New Jersey a compelling economic rationale to play online with Ocean Resort Casino rather than established incumbent casino operators already online in this fast-growing market.”
GAN also brings to the table its “dual mode” system whereby the real money games are offered alongside “freemium Simulated Gaming.”
The free-to-play games can be played not just by New Jersey residents and visitors, but also by players out of state.
Since, as GAN points out, roughly 50 percent of Atlantic City’s casino patrons live outside the borders of New Jersey, the free-to-play games are a way of maintaining a connection with players who have played for real money while visiting New Jersey.
They may also work in attracting new visitors to both the live and real money online casino games in Atlantic City.