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New Jersey Issues Rules To Allow Skill-based Gambling

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey gambling regulators have issued regulations allowing companies to place skill-based gambling devices on the floor of the state's eight casinos.

The state Division of Gaming Enforcement posted the rules by which manufacturers of skill-based games must operate.

They include prominently letting players know that the outcome of their bet can be influenced by their physical or mental skill as opposed to traditional gambling devices that are based on chance.

"This is another important step towards implementing skill-based gaming in the Atlantic City gaming market," said Division Director David Rebuck. "Although the Division has had the authority to authorize these games for some time and announced in October 2014 an initiative for manufacturers to bring their skill-based games to New Jersey, the industry requested specific regulations to guide their efforts to create innovative skill-based products."

The rules include requirements that the games pay out a certain percentage of bets collected, and they prohibit casinos from making the games harder or easier to win while a game is in progress, based on the perceived skill of the player.

They also include monitoring programs to guard against collusion or money laundering in multi-player peer-to-peer games.

Manufacturers say skill-based slot machines are meant to appeal to millennials who tend to skip over traditional machines because they see them as old-fashioned.

Some are developing real-money gambling versions of arcade games like pinball, and video game console products like "Guitar Hero." Others are developing casino versions of games like" ''Angry Birds" and "Words with Friends."

Last February, the Borgata casino in Atlantic City hosted a basketball free throw shooting contest for cash.

Rebuck said that under a fast-track provision, manufacturers who bring their skill-based devices to New Jersey before any other jurisdiction can have them in operation on a casino floor within 14 days of approval.

The rules mirror those adopted last September in Nevada, so any device approved there would be allowed in New Jersey, as well.

(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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