When New Jersey’s online gambling market first launched in November, Golden Nugget intended to be at the forefront. A series of delays prevented them from launching with the rest of the pack, but it’s clear now that the head start competitors received was no hindrance. Now among the leaders of the state’s online casino market, Golden Nugget has also managed to disprove the theory of cannibalization.

Before internet gaming was approved in the Garden State, one of the major concerns for land-based casino operators—and the rest of the country, for that matter—was that online gambling would cannibalize the land-based industry. If players are logging on via their computers and mobile devices, why should they bother to visit that brick and mortar variety of casinos? Clearly, that hasn’t been the case for Golden Nugget.

Thomas Winter is the Vice President of Online Gaming for Landry’s, Inc., which operates the Atlantic City casino’s iGaming website, GoldenNuggetCasino.com. In a recent edition of iGaming Business North America, Winter told a triumphant tale of the Golden Nugget’s unlikely rise to the top in New Jersey.

As the rest of the market went live, shelling out untold millions in promotional campaigns to promote their products in November 2013, Golden Nugget was forced by technical difficulties to bide its time. Several weeks later, the online casino was launched. The online poker side of the business, however, was delayed indefinitely.

“As our competitors all launched marketing campaigns at the same time, they really struggled to acquire customers cost-effectively, and in most cases the operators had pulled back from their marketing spend already,” explained Winter.

In Spring 2015, when rivals had exhausted their marketing funds, Golden Nugget ramped up their efforts. The online casino was able to increase its market share from 5% to 11% by September.

Then in November, something extraordinary happened. Trump Plaza closed up shop, and iGaming company Betfair found itself without a land-based home for its online operation. Betfair spent a short stint with Caesars, but in November established a new, permanent partnership with Golden Nugget.

By December 2014, the casino’s market share has risen to 20%. Golden Nugget is now in a very tight race among the top three competitors for online casino market share in New Jersey, led by Borgata Casino (26.397%), Tropicana Casino (26.048%) and Golden Nugget (25.678%).

Golden Nugget Land-Based Clientele Increases

Instead of seeing a decrease in physical clientele, Golden Nugget has found that its online presence is actually increasing the number of patrons visiting the brick and mortar casino. Winter wasn’t the only one to point out a significant rise in foot traffic on the gaming floor of area casinos, either.

Winter said that only 20% of the casinos patrons “were already registered at the property.” The remaining 80% of their clientele “were totally new and recruited online.”

It was also feared that existing customers may not visit the land-based casino as often when given the option to play online. That hasn’t been the case either, says Winter. “Interesting enough, of the 20 percent of players we got who were already Golden Nugget customers, rather than their play decreasing once they started playing online, their visitation actually increased.”

The Danish Gambling Authority has seen fit to approve the license application of online gaming giant Full Tilt. As such, the operator announced on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, the launch of its Danish online poker room and casino in the European region.

Full Tilt will be competing with a large market in its new Danish residence, where 113 online poker and casino licensees are already operating, including their own sister-site, PokerStars. Other major poker sites that have obtained a license to dip into Denmark’s respectable player pool include Betfair, partypoker, PKR and Unibet, just to name a few.

“We are excited that Danish players are now able to play both casino and poker games on Full Tilt,” read a statement to the press from Dominic Mansour, Managing Director at Full Tilt. He explained that the launch of the operator’s online poker platform in Denmark means that “Danish players are able to create their stories on Full Tilt and compete against players from around the world.”

Full Tilt Danish Gambling License

Obtaining a license from the Danish Gambling Authority comes with a number of regulatory standards and requirements that must be met. Along with regulatory compliance, Full Tilt was responsible for paying a license fee of DKK 250,000 (USD $37,753), and must pay an additional annual fee of anywhere from DKK 50,000 to DKK 1,500,000 ($7,500 – $227,400) in Danish taxes, depending on the amount of revenue the company generates in rake and fees from its new local player base.

Since re-launching in 2012 under the new ownership of Amaya Gaming, Full Tilt has acquired four jurisdictional licenses to operate its online poker and casino gaming website. Along with Denmark, Full Tilt is also licensed in the Isle of Man, Malta and the United Kingdom.

Based on recent revenue reports, Denmark was an easy choice for the company when seeking out a destination for its next license application. The Danish Gambling Authority reported that its domestic online gambling market harvested a total gross revenue of DKK 7.75 billion (USD $1.1 billion) in 2014. That figure represents a growth of 2% since 2013 (DKK 7.575 billion), and a 3% increase since 2012 (DKK 7.5 billion).

Full Tilt Gaming Options for Danish Players

As a result of the Full Tilt launch in Denmark, players in the European state now have access to the full range of online poker cash games and tournaments promoted by the website. These include seasonal online tournament series like FTOPS and Mini-FTOPS, as well as qualifiers to the brand’s live sponsored events, such as the International Poker Open (IPO).

Full Tilt Casino now presents Danish gamblers with the ability to log on and play the site’s collection of graphically rich online slots, baccarat, blackjack and roulette games, as well as a range of live dealer table games and multi-player games.

Full Tilt’s fast-forward cash games, known as Rush Poker, can be accessed by mobile poker players in Denmark. For the moment, Rush Poker Mobile is in beta mode, compatible with iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices with iOS 4.0 or greater installed.