US daily fantasy sports and sports betting leader DraftKings is closing its live dealer casino studio in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The company will continue offering live dealer games, but plans to outsource them to a third-party provider. The transition will take place at the end of January 2025.
Key Highlights
- DraftKings posted a WARN Notice of the studio closing, as required by New Jersey law.
- Management notified live dealer studio staff of the decision on Monday.
- DraftKings will begin using a third-party live dealer provider as of January 31, 2025.
DraftKings Employees Given Notice
DraftKings has not made an official public announcement, but it has been confirmed that it will close its live dealer studio, currently housed at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City.
iGaming media outlet NEXT.io was the first to report the news, initially seeing DraftKings listed on the New Jersey WARN ACT Notice.
A Warn Notice is a required 60-day advance notice posting of business closures or layoffs, available to the public. DraftKings’ line item is currently the last on the list, showing an effective date of January 31, 2025 and affecting 101 employees.
DraftKings management announced the closure and layoffs to studio staff on Monday.
“As we finalise our GNOG integration, effective January 31, 2025, DraftKings will transition its in-house Live Dealer operations to third-party studios in Atlantic City,” a company spokesperson told NEXT.io.
The DraftKings spokesperson also said that all game offerings will continue uninterrupted.
So What’s Next?
As DraftKings has not issued a public statement on the live studio closure, it also has not said who will be taking over its live studio operations.
The best bet is probably Evolution, the dominant player in the US live dealer market.
DraftKings already contracts with Evolution for its live dealer casino games in Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. And while DraftKings has had its own studio, Evolution does operate some of its games in New Jersey.
Evolution is prominent in Atlantic City, running live dealer studios at Ocean Casino Resort, Tropicana, and Hard Rock.
In May 2024, the company filed plans to build a $75 million complex in Atlantic City to house its live dealer operations. It would consolidate its local studios at the new campus.
What Is the Appeal of Live Dealer Games?
Live dealer casino games have existed for nearly 30 years, but it wasn’t until broadband became more widespread in the last two decades that they really picked up steam.
And in the last decade, as internet technology has significantly improved, live dealer games have skyrocketed in both popularity and availability.
While they are still played online, live dealer games are exactly what they sound like: casino games in which a real, living, breathing human being deals the cards.
Players still place their bets with a mouse or finger taps, just like with traditional online casino games. A card reader in the table scans the cards to determine how the action and wagers play out.
The social aspect makes it feel more like casino gambling, and the slower pace of play allows customers to feel like they are getting more bang for their buck.
Customers enjoy live dealer games because they come as close as possible to the real casino experience from the comfort of home.
Skeptical gamblers also feel they are more secure, as they can see the physical cards being dealt or the roulette ball roll. They don’t have to trust a random number generator (which are quite legitimate, but not everyone believes that).
Players can often communicate with the dealers via text chat, while the dealer can speak as they would in a brick-and-mortar casino. The social aspect makes it feel more like casino gambling, and the slower pace of play allows customers to feel like they are getting more bang for their buck.
Sources
https://next.io/news/casino/exclusive-draftkings-lay-off-101-nj-staff/
https://www.nj.gov/labor/assets/PDFs/WARN/2024_WARN_Notice_Archive.pdf
https://www.evolution.com/who-we-are/compliance-markets/
