5 Reasons NJ Online Gambling Sites are Better than Atlantic City Casinos

Thanks to the internet, our world is changing rapidly. Now you can do anything online, from paying your bills to finding your true love. Activities that once required pants, shoes, and leaving your house can now be done from the comfort of your own couch — including gambling.

New Jersey’s 2013 online gambling law changed the way we play in the Garden State. As a fast-paced bellwether state, New Jersey has always been on the cutting edge of gambling culture and legislation in the United States.

Now, New Jersey players are embracing online gambling, realizing all the ways it differs from spending time in physical casinos.

The following are five of the things that set New Jersey online casinos and poker rooms apart from traditional Atlantic City casino gaming.

For a lot of players, these differences make gambling online out to be the more desirable option – it’s like gambling in a casino without all the annoyances that the actual casino brings.

1. There Are No Crowds

At home, it’s all you. There’s no waiting to get on the only Kitty Glitter in the place – you want Kitty Glitter, you get to have Kitty Glitter all to yourself — kindergarten-level social skills be damned. Playing alone in the comfort of your home also avoids these aggravations:

• No secondhand cigarette smoke to inhale.
• Conversely, no dirty looks if you’re the one producing the cigarette smoke.
• Nobody else watching you play like it’s some kind of spectator sport.
• What line at the bill breaker? There is no need for bill breaker when you’re online.

Nobody’s nudging you off a loose slot or screwing up your blackjack game against the dealer. You’ve got peace and quiet without having to wait in line for anything. And if you want a crowd in your home, you can hand-select that crowd. You get to decide who comes, when they come, and when you want the crowd to leave. That’s what I call crowd control!

2. No Head Games

As we mentioned in one of my recent articles, casinos are in the business of screwing with people. You’re there to make them money, and they’re going to do all they can to squeeze every last dime out of you.

It’s not enough that carpets from a clown’s garage sale are trying to make your eyes bleed because you can’t keep track of your money as easily when your vision receptors are trying to interpret their pattern. It goes beyond that. Inside a casino, the lack of clocks and windows shut you off from the outside world. It’s like a dungeon of glitz and confusion.

At home, you can bask in the sunlight while you’re betting against the house. Sit outside, inside, wherever you care to, completely free of manipulation.

3. Safety

In a lot of ways, gambling at home is safer than gambling in a casino. As we mentioned in the previous entry, you’re free from all the distractions that casinos use to take your money more efficiently. You control the environment you’re playing in when you’re at home, and control of a situation brings safety within it.

Although entering your credit card and other personal banking information into a gambling website can seem risky, it is actually very safe to gamble online in New Jersey. There have been no reported cases of major security breaches in New Jersey’s online casinos or fraudulent gambling websites targeting naïve players since the state legalized online gambling in 2013.

And let’s face it: Atlantic City isn’t the safest place in the Garden State. Granted, you can greatly reduce your risk of falling victim to crime if you choose to stay hidden inside your resort and by traveling with a group when you do venture out. If you drive into Atlantic City and park on the street, you could come back to a broken window and missing valuables. This is much less likely to happen in the security of your own neighborhood.

The most controversial safety aspect that online gambling brings is safety from yourself. One can argue that in front of the computer screen, it’s easy to sit and play for hours, losing track of what you spend. It definitely is easy. But it’s just as easy to take advantage of most online casinos’ lockout features, which self-aware players can use to limit their time on the website to a set amount of time or money spent. In a physical casino, there’s no such feature. Instead, there’s a cacophony of payouts, lights, excitement, ATMs, and credit officers ready to help you set up a line of credit with the house.

It’s a control thing. At home, a little self-control goes very far.

4. Privacy

The previous entries all have one thing in common that makes gambling online better than gambling in a noisy, crowded, brick and mortar casino: privacy.

In an online casino, you play alone with an the automated dealer. Okay, it’s you, the automated dealer, other players if you’re playing poker, and maybe the NSA, but that’s beside the point. The point is, you’re free to play at your own pace, wagering as much or as little as you want and referring to gaming guides in other windows in your browser, free of judgment and distraction.

Like the safety feature, privacy in an online casino is often a double-edged sword. Yes, you’re free from others watching you play, but that means you’re also free from help if you need it. When nobody’s watching, it’s easier to become addicted to the convenience that online gambling brings and bet far more than you normally would. Which brings us to our final point:

5. Convenience

Play slots while you’re waiting at the doctor’s office. Play blackjack while you’re standing in line at the supermarket. Win big on poker at your brother’s wedding.

No, don’t do the last one. But the point is, you can. New Jersey’s online casinos make it easy to play your favorite card games and slots anywhere in the state as long as you have internet access. Play in your pajamas. Play while your video’s buffering. There’s no trip out, no parking, no bus tickets, no hassle.

Think about it – when you gamble online, you get to skip the tolls or bus fare to get to Atlantic City and the parking fee if you’re not a privileged member of the casino you’re playing in. It’s all right there for you on your phone, computer or tablet, ready for you to sign in and start playing.

Better or Just Newer?

Better. Welcome to the future. Online casinos can’t replicate that real-live experience, and in a lot of ways,  that’s a good thing.