Why every NJ online casino runs on an Atlantic City license
New Jersey opened the country’s first full online casino market on November 21, 2013, built around its existing casinos. Only the holders of Atlantic City casino licenses may offer online slots and table games, so every brand on a New Jersey phone either belongs to one of those casinos or operates under an agreement with one.
The link follows ownership in many cases. MGM’s Borgata hosts BetMGM and Borgata Online, Caesars Entertainment’s online brands sit with its Atlantic City properties, and Hard Rock Bet and Golden Nugget Online trace back to the Hard Rock and Golden Nugget casinos in the city. National operators without a casino of their own sign with one that has spare capacity.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement licenses each platform and each brand, tests the games and enforces the location rules. Its geolocation rules block play from across the Hudson or the Delaware, even for a player standing a few yards over the line. A licensed app names its Atlantic City partner in its terms and conditions.
The tax and legal framework has shifted since launch. The 2013 law taxed online gambling revenue at 15%, against 8% for the casino floors, and allowed online play for a ten-year trial; a 2025 budget law raised the online rate to 19.75%. The authorization has since been renewed, so NJ online casinos still operate past the original 2023 end date.
How big New Jersey’s online market has become
The online side, legal since the 2013 law, keeps growing. Across 2025, New Jersey’s online casinos took in a record $2.91 billion, 22% more than the $2.39 billion of 2024. In August 2026 the online total reached $259.3 million, according to the Division of Gaming Enforcement’s monthly figures, up 4.4% on a year earlier.
Growth has slowed as the market matured. Michigan posted faster year-on-year gains over the summer of 2026, but the NJ online casino market still offers one of the widest choices of brands in the country, with dozens of sites under the nine Atlantic City licenses. The Michigan guide compares the two markets in more detail.
Poker shares players beyond the state line. New Jersey joined the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement with Nevada in October 2017, and Michigan joined in May 2022, so licensed rooms can seat New Jersey residents at tables with players from other member states. Online poker, like all online casino play in New Jersey, stays tied to an Atlantic City license.
Why New Jersey has racetracks but no racinos
New Jersey’s constitution confines casino gaming to Atlantic City, and the tracks never won an exception. In November 2016 voters rejected a ballot question that would have allowed two casinos in the north of the state, with the Meadowlands among the sites discussed. Without that change, video lottery or slot machines at the tracks were never an option.
The tracks found other income instead. When New Jersey won its federal case on sports betting in 2018, Monmouth Park opened the state’s first sportsbook on June 14, 2018, and the Meadowlands followed a month later with a FanDuel book. Sports betting, not slot machines, became the racino substitute at New Jersey’s tracks.
The tracks take part in online betting too, but on the sports side. New Jersey lets racetracks hold sports wagering licenses that can host mobile apps, and FanDuel’s New Jersey sportsbook app grew out of its Meadowlands partnership. Monmouth Park’s sports wagering partner began as William Hill, the business Caesars Entertainment bought in 2021.
Freehold Raceway, the third track, did not survive. Its owners, a joint venture of Penn Entertainment and Greenwood Racing, announced the closure in September 2024 and ran the final card on December 28, 2024. New Jersey now has two racetracks and two off-track wagering sites, Favorites at Woodbridge and Favorites at Hillsborough, both linked to Monmouth Park.
Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands for Atlantic City visitors
Monmouth Park sits in Oceanport, near the Jersey Shore, about 90 minutes north of Atlantic City by car. Its thoroughbred season runs from early May to Labor Day, and the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational for three-year-olds in late July is the busiest day. A trackside Caesars Sportsbook with a Shake Shack opened in November 2025.
The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, next to the stadium complex, runs harness racing for most of the year and a short thoroughbred meet in autumn. The Hambletonian, the trotting classic it hosted from 1981, will move to Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Indiana from 2027 under an August 2026 vote. The horse racing schedule lists current race days.
Both tracks belong to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. The Meadowlands is run by New Meadowlands Racetrack LLC, led by Jeff Gural since December 2011, and Darby Development operates Monmouth Park under a lease. Those same parties sit behind the state’s closed online race betting system, which keeps a share of wagering revenue inside New Jersey racing.
Neither track is part of the Atlantic City online casino system, and neither has a gaming floor. A visitor who wants slots and a race on the same trip has to go to a racino across the river: Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, is a short drive from Trenton across the Delaware River and runs thoroughbreds.
Horse racing betting in New Jersey: a closed market
New Jersey runs its own account wagering system rather than opening the door to every national app. Under an agreement between Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park, and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, a new managing vendor took over that system on July 1, 2026. Residents can bet tracks nationwide through it.
Two other platforms operate inside the system. 4NJBets, run on the TVG platform owned by FanDuel, continued without interruption when the new vendor took over. MonmouthBets offers fixed-odds horse racing betting to New Jersey residents, where the price is fixed when the bet is struck, and sends players outside the state to its separate pari-mutuel site.
Any other operator needs approval from the managing vendor, Darby Development and the New Jersey Racing Commission before it can accept New Jersey accounts. National apps that work in other states therefore block New Jersey addresses. The operator listing on this page shows the horse racing betting apps open to residents, and the pari-mutuel guide explains how pools work.
Using an NJ online casino safely
Check that the brand appears on the Division of Gaming Enforcement’s list of approved sites and that its terms name an Atlantic City partner. Licensed apps confirm identity and location, offer deposit, spending and time limits, and must pause play at the $2,500 lifetime deposit mark until the player acknowledges the state’s responsible gaming notice.
Self-exclusion covers every online casino in the state at once through the Division of Gaming Enforcement. Help is one call away: Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER. The responsible gambling page explains the tools in more detail.
An NJ online casino account belongs to the brand, not to the Atlantic City partner, so a player can hold several accounts at once, each with its own wallet, limits and history. Some brands connect to land-based loyalty programs: BetMGM to MGM Rewards and the Caesars apps to Caesars Rewards, which both count at their Atlantic City properties.