New Jersey Poker Sites
Any land-based casino with an online gambling license may offer online poker in New Jersey.
Online poker has been legal in New Jersey since November 2013. New Jersey was the third US state behind Nevada and Delaware to legalize real money online poker.
Since then, Garden State has established itself as one of the hotspots for poker, with players able to play at Atlantic City poker tournaments or one of the available NJ poker online sites.
This page will provide an overview of the current laws of playing poker online for New Jersey residents and visitors, how the operators keep players safe, and list the best NJ online poker sites and apps. For poker players looking for the best real-money NJ poker tournaments and free poker apps, or for those who just want to play online poker with friends, this page has you covered.
Which poker operators have poker apps for NJ?
If you want to play poker in NJ on a mobile app, you can play legally at any of these 3 operators
- 888poker
- WSOP
- Borgata poker
There are not as many poker sites in New Jersey as there are online casinos due to poker needing a fairly large population to draw from in order to support active tables, but things are improving on that front.
When New Jersey first launched online gambling, all poker sites were restricted to drawing players from New Jersey only, which made it difficult for more than a handful of sites to generate enough action to support a healthy poker economy.
However, New Jersey has since entered compacts with other states allowing licensed poker sites in each to share players across state borders. This has significantly improved the situation as now players in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and other states can sit at tables with players from other states. This is good for poker sites and players alike as it fosters increased traffic at legal poker sites.
As more states legalize online poker and enter similar compacts, traffic will improve across the board.
NJ Online Poker Overview
Since launching its online poker industry in 2013, New Jersey has become a market leader in the United States. It has been a pioneer for legal real money online poker, and other states have taken their lead and followed suit. The NJ online poker market offers players loads of variety, with several well-known operators offering real money poker sites and different games.
NJ Poker App Insights
WSOP NJ
People may recognize the name thanks to the World Series of Poker tournaments that are held annually in Las Vegas. This app is great fun to play on, with numerous sit and go’s and multi-table tournaments available. When playing on a mobile, you can also access the Blast Sit and Go’s, which are an excellent addition. Blast games are fast-paced, winner-take-all sit and go tournaments.
The tournament lobby is impressive, and you can easily navigate to the games which appeal to you the most. The tables feature four players taking each other on for prize pools that can be as much as 10,000 times your buy-in. Another element we like is that when a timer runs out, all the players are still in until there is a winner.
Partypoker NJ
Partypoker overhauled its app last year, and the platform is now an exciting, user-friendly environment providing real money poker games. The interface has been revamped with a new portrait layout introduced to enable one-handed gameplay. Players can easily switch through games, and the app runs smoothly with nice graphics and a clean player lobby.
Partypoker offers SPINS tournaments which perfectly suit mobile play. These three-person tournaments can be played with one hand so NJ players can play on the move without hassle. Some of the features include bubble chat, emojis and animations, hand replayer, and an enhanced search tool. Like WSOP, partypoker is great fun and is a superb option for NJ online poker players who want to play some games remotely.
Borgata Poker
The app and client for Borgata Poker is the same program as partypoker, so the Borgata option is just a skin of the partypoker app. Which one players choose will likely come down to which rewards program you are already a part of. There may also be some extra promotions and bonus offers available on Borgata Poker that is not an option on partypoker.
Players will find the experience with the Borgata Poker app very similar to partypoker. There is the same opportunity to qualify to play in live Borgata Poker tournaments, such as the World Poker Tour events.
PokerStars
PokerStars is an established NJ online poker option. When you have created an account and log in, you will be greeted with a vertical screen with a slide bar where you can scroll through looking for games and other features. We were impressed with the game selection, design, and aesthetics of PokerStars NJ; it certainly looks fantastic.
The app offers cash games, including no-limit hold ’em and pot-limit Omaha, sit-and-go’s, tournaments, and the popular Spin & Go’s. Zoom poker is also an option, which is a very fast-paced game for those who want to get through hands quickly.
One of the features we love on PokerStars is that it recommends games to players based on what they have played in the past. If you wish to switch these recommendations off, you can tap the large icons and use the filters instead. The only thing we noticed that was slightly out of the ordinary on this app was that players could not specify an exact buy-in for cash games.
This is a fantastic mobile app; it is uncluttered, and you can view your account information, and filter between games and tournaments is a breeze.
888 Poker
The same software is used for both the 888poker NJ site and WSOP NJ online poker sites, so the experience is also the same for both apps, apart from the different color schemes. You have to specify the type of game you are looking for if you want to access cash games, for example, and you cannot see the tables by name. There are regular multi-table tournaments, and these work really well on mobile devices.
BetMGM Poker NJ
BetMGM Poker is just another skin of partypoker. Customers will be able to access all of the games and tournaments and use MGM’s sports betting and online casino offerings. Players in NJ who play on the partypoker, BorgataPoker, and Bet MGM platforms can take advantage of excellent tournaments and player pools. The NJ online poker market is only growing, so this bodes well for players in New Jersey.
In-Person Poker Rooms
Legal in-person poker games can be found at certain Atlantic City casinos. Every poker room has its own style and perks, but the Borgata poker room stands out as one of the very best in the region. The Borgata has dozens of tables and high stakes cash games in addition to hosting major tournaments on a regular basis.
Moving outside of Atlantic City, your options for live poker diminish significantly. NJ gaming law does not appear to make exceptions for home games and there are no other licensed poker rooms in the state. If you live in the north or eastern portions of the state, Philadelphia and its poker rooms may be more convenient.
NJ Online Poker Laws
The online poker industry went live in New Jersey following a gambling bill that was signed into law in 2013. This bill covers online casino sites and online poker in the Garden State. The law gave the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) the ability to approve licenses for online gambling operators in NJ.
The law enables operators to provide DGE tested online poker and casino games for players who are physically located within the state and are 21 or older. Following the law being introduced, six online poker sites were launched in New Jersey. Three additional sites have now gone live, and online poker remains a vibrant industry in New Jersey.
Poker is regulated in New Jersey under the Casino Control Act as an authorized form of gambling offered within licensed casinos. The NJ criminal code appears to prohibit all home poker games, but games hosted at land-based casinos are perfectly legal.
Online poker is likewise regulated by the same laws that govern online gambling. Multiple legal poker sites operate in New Jersey today and offer a full range of cash games and tournaments. These sites may be accessed via PC, Mac and mobile devices.
NJ gaming laws also permit poker sites to reach agreements with sites active in other states where online poker is legal. In 2018, New Jersey joined Nevada and Delaware in a player sharing agreement allowing any site active in two or more states to share players across state lines.