Hi everyone,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I wanted to introduce myself and help answer some of your questions. My name is Jason Frank and I'm the Online Casino Director for BorgataCasino.com. Though we do have a support center and you can reach them anytime at
support@borgatacasino.com or 877-448-5833, you should feel comfortable also trying me here at this forum. I will check it regularly and respond as quickly as possible.
I'd like to respond to a few of the items brought up thus far. If I miss anything, please do feel free to let me know.
1. Who is BorgataCasino associated with - we are in partnership with Bwin.Party. We use their casino client and through it offer our customers BorgataCasino.com and BorgataPoker.com.
2. Support - Our support center is both shared and independent. Meaning we are located at the same facilities (in India and Bulgaria) but have our own support team. Unfortunately because Bwin.Party manages the support centers and teams, we are not able to bring in our own personnel or management. The US regulated market is new and with it comes a lot of red tape and this causes some confusion with support staff as they need to learn about a whole new market and a whole new product. The good news is this. Firstly, they are getting better at dealing with our customers and we are getting better at helping them learn. Secondly, over the course of the year support will be relocated and fully managed in the US, specifically NJ. When that happens, you'll notice a significant improvement in the quality of support. Though it can be frustrating for now, please bear with us as we are only a few months old and both Borgata, Bwin.Party and our support teams really do mean well.
3. US Markets - Currently NJ, DE and NV are the only states that have legalized online gaming. NJ is by far the biggest market but others will no doubt open up in the coming years. There are 9 other states that currently have legislation pending including Illinois
. To find out more about your particular state, you can do a Google search or perhaps contact your local state representative. I know that sounds like a canned response, but to be honest it's complicated and every state will work differently and it's too hard to go into via a forum. NJ currently has legislation pending that would allow us to accept intra state online gaming. Of course that will depend on each state's rules but I'm pretty confident that other states will follow suit soon.
4. Geo Location - For those of you that are in New Jersey and wish to play, the legislation does require two things from players. First, to play real money you need to be physically located in NJ. You don't need to be a resident, just physically here. In order to do that, all NJ casinos require you to pass through a Geo-Location filter which basically triangulates your position to ensure you're actually in NJ. You must have a wireless router connected to your computer and at least two unique wireless connections VISIBLE to your wireless router or device. So, if you live in an area without neighbors who have wireless routers you may have problems. This is all new technology (in terms of integrating with gaming platforms) so it hasn't been smooth sailing, but adjustments to the system are being made all the time and it has significantly improved. You can also play via your mobile device and this may automatically fix some of these issues.
5. KYC - The second item required is to be verified as yourself. KYC stands for Know Your Customer. The only way to do this is to verify your name, Social Security Number and address. Sometimes if all three items don't match official records you will not be verified. Sometimes its as simple as making sure your name is spelled as it is on your SS# card or using a previous address if you've moved recently. You can also send/scan copies of your official documents directly to customer service and they will manually verify you. Though this may seem like a big deal, it's actually for your benefit to go through this process. This is actually what makes NJ online gaming regulated and protects players.
6. Free Play/Out of State Play - Legislation has just been modified to allow for out of state free play but it will take a bit of time for the programming to be completed and approved. But once it is ready, we will launch it. I'll keep this forum posted with any updates.
In the interest of making this as short as possible, I'll take leave now. Do feel free to post and I will respond. If you are having difficulties with support, please post with as much information (including the agent's name if possible) and I'll take care it.
All the best,
Jason