Gambling in New Jersey Online Casinos

I'm just wrapping up a trip to New Jersey and wanted to share some thoughts about gambling in the state's online casinos.

First, my favorite casinos are Borgata and Caesar's which I sure comes as no surprise to anyone who's had a chance to gamble online in New Jersey. I chose to deposit via ACH and my money and bonuses were credited to my accounts instantly. Within seconds, I was headed off to the tables.

I've had a grudge against Borgata since the casino filed a lawsuit against Phil Ivey last year, but I have to admit that playing in Borgata's online casino and poker room made me get over myself pretty quickly. Borgata has great game variety and its games have crisp, colorful graphics that aren't distracting. I can't wait to visit again!

I had a lot of fun, but less success gambling at Caesar's. I had a great run playing blackjack, but I had to redeposit after blowing my entire bankroll on video poker of all things. I didn't mind, though, because playing at Caesar's was just a nice way to spend a few evening hours. In fact, the only thing that could have made my experience better would have been a free drink or two.

I don't like to trash anyone or anything, but I have to say that the hands-down worst online gambling experience I had was at Golden Nugget. I mean, even setting up an account proved to be a challenge as the sign-up page kept freezing. And I don't know if all of Golden Nugget's customer service representatives go on break at the same time or what, but support was non-existent when I needed it. That, more than anything else, is what really, really disappointed and surprised me. I'll try it again when I head back to NJ later this year, but I'm not looking forward to revisiting this casino any time soon.

Let me know if you have any questions about NJ's online casinos and/or share your experiences gambling online in NJ!

I still haven't been to a state with regulated poker/casino so this is interesting. Thanks for the review of your visit!

Have you had any experience cashing out and how that works? I'm really curious how this all works for taxes since all accounts are linked to your SSN. If I don't live in NJ, but win $500 at the casino while I'm there, will I have to pay NJ state taxes at the end of the year when I cash out?

Originally Posted by givememyleg

I still haven't been to a state with regulated poker/casino so this is interesting.

it's really interesting...

Originally Posted by PokerFighter

it's really interesting...

perhaps you can enlighten us with what you find so interesting bearing in mind that you're from russia so highly unlikely to be visiting any NJ casinos in the immediate future.

Well thanks for this review, me and my friend are going to New Jersey next month for a poker night. I have heard so much good about caesars, hope its good as people says.

Being from jersey, borgata is my favorite site hands down. I guess I take it for granted I'll admit though, I guess I never realized people will travel to nj just to play online poker. Just curious, do you guys hang out at a dunkin donuts or somewhere to play for a couple hours?

Blue Chip - do you know how things like taxes are going to work for you year end? I assume you're a recreational player like most in the state, I hope you don't get nailed with a tax form with gross winnings!

I don't suspect you would know since you live in NJ, but do you know how it would work if I came from out of state, played, and won some cash?

NJ residents do indeed get nailed with a form 1040 taxing gross winnings. It is up to you to collect proof of losses to be able to deduct that total and only pay taxes on your net winnings. However if the state later on feels that you did not show substantial proof of losses they could nail you to pay the additional differential that was originally deducted.

As for out of state residents that visit NJ to play, you are subject to multiple state taxes at first because you are responsible to report all earnings to your home state regardless of the location in which it was earned. However most states have a resident tax credit for Professional players if it is your primary source of income, from what i was told. It has been my understanding that it is not an easy task to receive these credits, and often times they are not paid 100% of the amount.

geez, that sounds pretty brutal. so hypothetically, if you're a break even poker grinder, and by years end you've won $10,000 while losing $11,000, you would be nailed with a tax form on $10k even though you lost $1k overall? hopefully it's not too hard to prove that, you would think the site would have the net figures available as well, but who knows.

That is exactly why is it imperative to keep an excellent log of your win/loss history.

Yeah, for sure. I wonder what would be considered sufficient though? Poker Tracker?

I would think poker tracker or any similar software would be good enough. I don't know if you would be considered a pro or a rec player, but the backup is mostly concerning pro players. I have heard that it is very hard and rare for a rec player to be audited and have to show documentation, it more so pertains to pro players because since they're annual income fluctuates so greatly year to year, it is much easier for them to be flagged for an audit.