New Jersey Crowns a Million Dollar Winner
Online gambling has been wildly popular in the states where it’s legal, but there has never been a large winner – until now.
Cathy Ruela, a casual online gambling player who played for fun in her spare time, is the state’s first million dollar winner. Her win marks the largest jackpot won since online gambling was legalized and regulated in the state of New Jersey.
The win came after she played Millionaire Genie. She said that when the genie’s treasure chest opened, she reportedly said that she didn’t know if she had won a thousand dollars or a million dollars. She had to call a representative to confirm the winning.
This is a huge boost to online gambling and shows that yes, there are huge winners in online gambling. Worth noting, Cathy originally signed up for the site because of their Welcome Bonus. It’s long been our stance that welcome bonuses and no deposit promotions bring in players that wouldn’t ordinarily gamble, and that’s exactly what happened in this situation. On her first day, she won $300, which convinced her to continue playing.
New Jersey brought in $103 million through online gambling this year, which is less than some people had predicted, but is a huge triumph on any scale. New Jersey’s local economy has taken a hit recently due to land-based casinos shutting their doors, and online gambling has made up any losses caused by the closures.
This news couldn’t have been timed better. Online gambling has faced an uphill battle lately, especially with Sheldon Adelson ramping up his efforts to put an end to legalized online gambling, so this move will only convince more people to give online gambling a shot. More importantly, it’ll cause other states to focus on New Jersey and the amount of money that players are betting online.
This news came at the tail end of November, so November’s numbers won’t really be any different, but it’ll be interesting to see if this gives New Jersey’s economy a boost for December. Online gambling will likely see a boost anyway thanks to the cold weather, but with Cathy Ruela winning a million dollars, it may get an even larger boost.
Though all legislation regarding legalizing online gambling in individual states is done for the year, this will undoubtedly have an impact moving forward. It remains to be seen if any new states will consider legalizing online gambling in 2015, but we’ll know shortly after the new year. Depending on how December fares for New Jersey, we may see it legalized and regulated in some states quicker than others.
Congratulations to Cathy, and hopefully this convinces more residents of New Jersey to give online gambling a shot.