New Jersey Approves Powerbucks Multi-State Progressive Slot Jackpots
The government of New Jersey approved a multi-state progressive slots system this week which should result in larger jackpots. The multi-state, networked jackpot system currently involves New Jersey, but is designed to draw interest from other states.
New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement claims several U.S. states have shown interest in joining in the progressive jackpot association. Of those, South Dakota is the only other state which was named as a possible signup to the system. South Dakota’s lawmakers are still considering their approach to multi-state regulations.
For the plan to work, it is thought other U.S. states need to show interest in the plan. If the plan succeeds, the new progressive jackpot slot system will be calls Powerbucks. The system will be powered by IGT.
150 Million-to-1 Powerbucks Jackpot
The idea behind the Powerbucks progressive jackpot network comes from the Powerball multi-state lottery. The odds of hitting a Powerbucks jackpot would be 150 million to 1, so the jackpot would be likely to build to immense proportions. The largest slot machine jackpot ever was hit at the Excalibur in 2003, when a software engineer won $39,713,982.25. The largest online slots jackpot amounted to just over $22 million, and was won by an anonymous Finnish player on a Mega Fortune slots game in 2013.
If the Powerbucks system is joined by other states, then the jackpots on Powerbucks have the potential to increase significantly. A jackpot exceeding $100 million is not out of the question. The problem with such a plan is you need significant numbers of gamblers feeding into that jackpot, or else it might take decades for a winning spin to happen. While that has a certain charm with the MGM slot machine which hasn’t had a jackpot in over 20 years, that’s not what players who visit Atlantic City would be expecting.
Increasing Jackpot Sizes to New Proportions
New Jersey regulators are guessing the plan is going to have significant appeal. As time has passed, the size of lottery jackpots has increased into the hundreds of millions of dollars, due to the multi-state lottery associations. These days, lotto jackpots ranging into the tens of millions are considered mundane, while buzz happens only when the pot increases into the range of a quarter of a billion dollars or so.
Slot machine jackpot wins gain buzz when a jackpot hits, but as the lotto prizes have increased, the slot machine accumulated payouts seem small in comparison. The Powerbucks jackpot would add a whole other order of magnitude to the prize pool. It’s thought a significant number of gamblers would visit Atlantic City for the opportunity to win such a jackpot. Officials at the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement believe gamblers would do the same in other states, so state officials across the USA are likely to want to sign up.
Study Shows Regulated Online Gaming Is Popular
Recent studies have shown that American online gamblers are choosing regulated and legal gambling sites over unregulated casinos and poker rooms, at least where they are given the choice. A study performed by Commercial Intelligence in the past few days shows that 35% of New Jerseyans who gambled on unregulated websites now play at the licensed Atlantic City sites. Furthermore, 35% of the current players in the New Jersey market did not gamble online before regulated casinos were opened in November 2013.
The study is likely to give online gambling proponents in other states talking points in their public policy debates. This year, ten different U.S. states are set to consider new gaming laws which would make Internet card rooms and casinos legal. Each of these states are looking to overcome budgetary shortfalls or raise revenues for new programs. In each case, evidence that gamblers will flock to regulated casinos could prove to be compelling.
Commercial Intelligence Report
Commercial Intelligence is a New Jersey based research division, working as a partnership between Clarion Events and Vivid Interface. Vivid Interface is an e-commerce and interactive media corporation with a client list that includes Morgan Stanley, Neiman Marcus, AT&T, General Motors, and Microsoft. Clarion Events was founded in 1947 and organizes 200 events worldwide every year, with offices in 8 different countries.
The head of research at Commercial Intelligence, Geoffrey Dixon, says that numbers are going to be notable to state treasurers, the governors they serve, and the legislatures. Dixon said, “Of the online players that we researched just two weeks ago, 35% had only begun gaming online following New Jersey’s decision in November 2013. This level of take-up, coupled with the movement to approved sites, represents a compelling fiscal case study for states seeking to cut their budget deficits.”
