Preserving a trend-setter status
HOW DOES THE CHASING PACK CHALLENGE THE US IGAMING STANDARD? NEW JERSEY, WHOSE ONLINE CASINO ECOSYSTEM
continues to go from strength to strength, is often considered the benchmark for other states to follow both in terms of its regulatory framework and the scale and scope of the market BY CRAIG DAVIES
A
s more and more states begin to open up, should the Garden State, the catalyst for the repeal of PASPA, be taking fleeting glances over its shoulder? And as others play catch-up in terms of the number of active operators and the revenues being generated, is New Jersey’s position as standard setter coming under threat from regions that have learned lessons from its mistakes and potentially created a better environment for the sector to thrive?
Adam Noble, Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer at PlayStar
56 SBC LEADERS • DECEMBER 2021
To delve into the debate, SBC Leaders spoke to Adam Noble, Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer of online casino brand PlayStar, and Allan Petrilli, VP of Sales and Growth at marketing analytics platform provider Intelitics. Following New Jersey setting yet more records through September as
THE TWO SIGNIFICANT EVENTS THAT CHANGED THAT WERE THE REPEAL OF PASPA AND COVID
Allan Petrilli, VP of Sales and Growth at Intelitics
its iGaming environment produced a $122.6 million high in gross gaming revenue, Noble and Petrilli began by examining the state’s position as the ‘standard’ or ‘blueprint’ for others to potentially follow. The former, although acknowledging that New Jersey ’has been a benchmark for iGaming in the US for many yearsʼ, suggested that it’s ʼnot to say it has been a super successful benchmark for all of that timeʼ. Noble said that it’s ʼeasyʼ to get carried away with the numbers witnessed through recent months, and pointed to an iGaming market that was ’small in comparison’ just two years earlier despite being live since 2013. “The two significant events that changed that were the repeal of PASPA and COVID, and it has certainly been on a tear ever since,” he explained. “From a regulatory perspective, most certainly it's been a benchmark and arguably set some of the highest entry