Why Virgin Online Casino And Bally’s AC Partnership Makes Perfect Sense
Virgin online casino is moving. By moving, we don’t mean opening a land-based casino on the former Atlantic City Hilton site.
Existing Virgin online casino players received an email early Tuesday afternoon explaining that the brand is no longer operating under the Tropicana Atlantic City license.
As of April 5, 2022, Virgin’s land-based partnership now falls under the Bally’s Atlantic City license. We’ll address why this change shouldn’t come as a surprise below.
For now, here is a brief summary regarding the switch:
“We are writing to let you know that the Virgin Casino license is updating on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. From this date, we will be operating under the internet gaming permit issued to Premier Entertainment AC LLC d/b/a Bally Atlantic City, NJIGP 22-011.
“Your account login, balance, and all your games and account features will continue to be available to you, just as they always have been, at virgincasino.com.”
Gamesys connects Virgin online casino with Bally’s AC
Virgin online casino has been live in the Garden State since 2014. The operator was the first NJ online casino operator to offer bingo.
So here we are eight years later with a sudden move to a different Atlantic City casino license. However, what seems like a totally random move really isn’t. In Oct. 2021, Bally’s Corp. (the parent company of Bally’s Atlantic City) completed the deal with UK-based Gamesys Group plc. The international online gambling operator provides the technology behind the Virgin online casino app.
So now that Bally’s and Gamesys fall under the same umbrella, it was only a matter of time before Virgin switched licenses.
And thanks to the Gamesys deal, Bally Casino which launched in late January, is the newest New Jersey online casino app.
Tropicana online casino switching to Light & Wonder
Tropicana online casino, also built with Gamesys technology, is in a completely different situation. If you look at the DGE list of approved online casino operators, the brand still falls under the Tropicana Atlantic City license. And it makes perfect sense why.
However, the land-based Trop is owned by Caesars Entertainment, a direct competitor and neighbor of Bally’s.
See the problem?
According to a Tuesday email sent to Tropicana online casino players, the brand will no longer be working with Gamesys. Instead, they will be partnering with Light & Wonder (previously known as Scientific Games). The platform change is scheduled to be completed by May 25.
More details regarding Virgin online casino changes
Because of Virgin’s new partnership with Bally’s AC, there are some minor changes. The obvious one is if players want to deposit or withdraw funds at the land-based casino, they must be made at the Bally’s casino cage. Transactions can no longer be completed at the Tropicana.
When visiting Virgin online casino for the first time, starting on April 5, players need to review and re-accept the terms and conditions. The key changes are the update of the licensed entity, the casino cage location, and an update to self-exclusion facilitation.
All online bank transfers will still be labeled from Virgin Casino. W2G forms will update automatically with the new information.
And the Virgin and Bally apps are now sharing jackpots, 90 ball Bingo game, and on-site chatroom. All jackpot balances will remain the same as they were previously.
Adding Virgin to Bally’s online casino revenue equation
So if we look at NJ online casino revenue through the first two months of 2022, it’s crystal clear Bally’s AC has a lot of ground to make up. The year-to-date total, which doesn’t include March, sits at $2.6 million, currently last among the eight license holders (Caesars Interactive is a combination of Caesars and Harrah’s).
Market leaders such as Borgata/BetMGM ($77 million) and Golden Nugget ($71 million) are frankly in a different league.
The reality is, at this point, the playing field isn’t even. When talking about Bally’s AC, PointsBet Casino was the only brand operating under the license through the month of January. You can’t really count the limited January action for Bally Casino.
And as far as Virgin online casino goes, that revenue falls under Tropicana revenue for the first three months of 2022.
So by adding Virgin, Bally’s AC now has an established brand under its umbrella versus the other two much newer products that are still establishing brand recognition with Garden State online players.
There is no doubt Bally’s is now in a much stronger position when it comes to internet gaming. As far as how much stronger, the next few months will create a much clearer picture.
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