Gambling operator Wynn Resorts has decided not to go forward with its plan to provide online gambling services within the New Jersey borders, local media reported.
Earlier this month, the Division of Gaming Enforcement, known to be the state gambling regulator, gave the gaming company the nod to withdraw its application for an online gaming license.
The operator’s Internet gambling division – Wynn Interactive – took its first steps towards establishing presence on New Jersey’s online casino market in July 2013. However, it warned later on that it might eventually change its mind. Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn revealed that he did not consider online gambling “a good entrepreneurial opportunity.”
If the gambling operator had not withdrawn its application, it would have worked together with Caesars Interactive to provide online casino offering in New Jersey.
Wynn Resorts was allowed to withdraw the application on September 4, after a lawyer for the company had sent a letter to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement a few days earlier. The gambling company has not yet commented on the matter.
Wynn Resorts was the first owner of the former Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City. The venue opened doors in 1980 and was later sold. It was the most profitable casino in the city in the first years of its operations. However, the venue, which was later on renamed the Atlantic Club, closed doors in January 2014.
Wynn Resorts has formerly expressed interest in returning to the New Jersey gambling market but has repeatedly decided against that. For instance, it announced that it would redevelop the site of the Bader Field airport but abandoned those plans. And as it seems, the company no longer has interest in running online casino operations in the state.
Online gambling was legalized in New Jersey towards the end of 2013. Despite the relatively slow start, Internet operations have gradually improved. In 2014, those generated the amount of $122 million. During the first eight months of 2015, proceeds from online gambling totaled $96.7 million, up 15.6% compared to the figures reported for the same eight-month period ended August 31, 2014.
Analysts expect that the state Internet gaming market is to improve even further. Online gambling is currently allowed only in three states – New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
