Online Poker in New Jersey - Best NJ Online Poker Sites 2025

New Jersey is a very interesting state, because it is one of the few that has regulated poker via the state government. However, just because there is regulated New Jersey online poker, this does not mean that all players should go flocking to it as though it were the only game in town.

Offshore sites are still a very real and legitimate option for all players and can be exceptionally enticing for those who don’t want to be trapped by small fields, bad software, small stakes, and the other issues that have plagued regulated online poker in New Jersey. It is true that some sites have decided that it is not worth the risk of offering games to those who reside within the state’s borders, but that is not true for all of them.

There are still many great offshore options available to players within New Jersey borders, like the intriguing Coin Poker, and players should very seriously consider these rooms for better rewards, and thus more money, than they could possibly get by playing on regulated sites.

Online Poker Sites in New Jersey

Below, we outline the best options for New Jersey players and where you can make the most money at the poker tables!

1

COIN POKER

BONUS:

150% → $2,000

★★★★★

4.3 / 5

BEST FOR INNOVATION

NETWORK:

STANDALONE

RAKEBACK:

UP TO 33%

MORE:

REVIEW

VISIT COIN POKER!

2

SWC POKER

BONUS:

NONE

★★★★★

4.1 / 5

BEST FOR MANY VARIANT GAMESS

NETWORK

STANDALONE

RAKEBACK

UP TO 50%

MORE:

REVIEW

VISIT SWCPOKER!

3

NITROBETTING

BONUS:

NONE

★★★★★

4.0 / 5

BEST FOR DEVICE COMPATIBILITY

NETWORK:

STANDALONE

RAKEBACK:

NONE

MORE:

REVIEW

VISIT NITROBETTING NOW

Is Online Poker Legal in New Jersey?

As one of the largest states in terms of legalized real money gaming activity, both online and offline, it makes sense that New Jersey has designed its laws to heavily discourage unauthorized gambling. Unfortunately, the New Jersey Revised Statutes are a mishmash of old language amended and updated several times over the years along with completely new clauses that have been added by legislation.

One thing that's clear, though, is that the bulk of the provisions apply to those organizing and hosting illicit games, not the individual players therein. Offering internet gaming in contravention of the law carries a fine as high as $25,000 in case it's a “natural person” committing the offense along with imprisonment of up to 18 months. If it's someone other than a natural person, i.e., a corporation, who's found guilty, then the fine can jump as high as $100,000.

Other states also have rules criminalizing offshore wagering services that cater to their residents, but NJ is one of the few that actually attempts to enforce them. This undoubtedly ties into the fact that it's the state with the largest licensed online gambling market, and so it wishes to divert traffic to those sites that it's able to grab some tax revenue from.

Online poker, casino, and sports operators have crunched the numbers, and many of them have decided to exit the state rather than face possible enforcement actions. There are, however, a few companies that aren't afraid of the situation and have opted to accept New Jerseyites as customers come what may.

Best New Jersey Online Poker Sites

Due to New Jersey's prohibitive legal climate for offshore poker entities, the rooms that remain in the state are less numerous than in some other parts of the country. Still, you do have several to pick from. Regardless of which one you choose, you'll enjoy speedy payouts, well-designed software, and honest games.

How to Play Online Poker in New Jersey

There's nothing too difficult about registering a new account at any of the best online poker in New Jersey destinations. We've included instructions below for our #1 recommended site, Coin Poker, but the steps should be similar regardless of which room you sign up for.

1. Click on any CoinPoker link on this page.
2. Click on the red “Register” button.
3. Complete the registration form that appears in your web browser window.
4. When you're finished, click on the box confirming that you understand the terms of service, and press the “Sign up” button on the bottom of the page.
5. Your download should begin automatically, but if it doesn't, you can choose your operating system to proceed.
6. After installing the program, open it up and sign in with your newly created account credentials.
7. Now you can open the cashier and make a deposit through the crypto-currency of your choice (we recommend Bitcoin).

How We Evaluate New Jersey Online Poker Sites – Choosing the Best Internet Poker Room

When it comes to online poker for real money, New Jersey gaming sites each offer different solutions with their own distinct features. In order to properly compare them to one another, we have elected to evaluate each of them across a set of consistent criteria.

Choice of Games and Stakes

Some internet poker rooms spread just No Limit Hold'em and possibly a couple of versions of Omaha. Others go all out, offering in addition to the variants mentioned above, such delights as Razz, 8-Game Mix, HORSE, Courchevel, and more. Even those sites with the same formats of poker rarely offer them for the same range of blind levels or buyins.

When we get to such innovative formats as fast-fold poker and lottery-style sit n' gos, the differences between the sites only magnify.

Deposit & Payout Channels

Regulated New Jersey online poker sites support a wide array of payment processors, like echecks and PayPal. However, offshore sites instead tend to transact in crypto-currencies, like Bitcoin.

While there are certain advantages to mainstream payment channels, crypto also possesses its benefits, like independence from the banking system and speedy transaction timeframes. If you'd like to learn more about using BTC for online poker, check out this walkthrough to getting started with Bitcoin poker.

Bonuses + Promos

Online poker rooms generally provide newcomers with welcome bonuses. Even after these bonuses are done, there may be further mechanisms for delivering value to regular customers, including rake races, reload bonuses, and freerolls.

Some of these promotions are active for only a limited duration. Others persist for months or years.

Online Poker Rakeback

For ongoing value delivered to y our online poker account, it's tough to beat rakeback. Rakeback is a regular rebate on the rake you pay at the tables. We think the advantages of rakeback are so great that we have included it in the name of our site, Professional Rakeback.

Here are the rakeback deals available to New Jerseyites:

• CoinPoker – 33% weekly rakeback for holders of the proprietary CHP token
• SwCPoker – up to 50% rakeback dependent on play volume

Reviews of Online Poker Sites for New Jersey

If you need more info before deciding on an online poker home, then keep reading. We've compiled all the relevant information on the reputable New Jersey online poker organizations and have presented it below so that you can make a well-informed decision.

Coin Poker

Deposit Methods

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, CHP, Polygon, BNB

Pros

• Highest poker traffic
• CHP token holders get 33% rakeback
• Many technical innovations

Cons

• No SNGs

Review

Among all NJ-friendly internet poker rooms, Coin Poker is the most unusual. It has deployed a wide range of technical features that are absent from most competitors: tables denominated in Tether (USDT), decentralized shuffling, and a bespoke crypto-currency (CHP) to name a few. It's hard to say whether these innovations will become the next big thing in poker, but for now, Coin has attracted quite a few adherents, leading to respectable player traffic figures.

There are a few drawbacks to this room. For one, although lottery-style Cosmic Spins are spread, there are no standard sit n' gos with two, six, or nine players per table.

CoinPoker runs on four operating systems: Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. You can take advantage of a welcome bonuses comprising a 150% match offer worth up to $2,000. Additionally, regular players can obtain up to 33% weekly rakeback as long as they're willing to hold a balance in the custom crypto CHP.

SwCPoker

Deposit Methods

Bitcoin

Pros

• Many poker variants spread
• Krill rewards program worth up to 50% rakeback

Cons

• Low traffic

Review

SwCPoker is the NJ poker site that supports the broadest array of poker variants. In addition to the standard trifecta of NL Hold'em, PL Omaha, and PL Omaha/8, you will also encounter Limit Hold'em, Razz, Triple Draw Lowball, HORSE, 12-game, and many other formats of poker.

A bevy of freerolls in many types of poker await you, letting you try out something different with no risk. Furthermore, the cash games with the lowest blinds don't charge any rake!

SwC has specific software for PCs, Macs, and Androids along with an HTML5 version that's compatible with many systems. There's no welcome bonus, but you can get up to 50% rakeback on your play through the Krill rewards program.

Nitrobetting

Deposit Methods

Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin, Visa, PayPal

Pros

• Work with almost every computing system

Cons

• Low player counts
• No poker bonus

Review

In the Nitrobetting poker room, you can enjoy No Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and PLO Hi-Lo. There's the standard trifecta of cash games, sit-n-gos, and tournaments. However, there are seldom more than a few players online at any given time, so it might be tough to get a game started.

Nitrobetting's web-based software means that it works on pretty much any computer or mobile device as long as it has a web browser. There's no first deposit bonus.

Facts About New Jersey's Poker Industry

The sections below will provide factual information about live NJ poker options, state regulation, the history of gambling and poker within the state of New Jersey, and similar subjects.

Regulated Online Poker

Online poker regulation has already happened in New Jersey with the passage of A2578, sponsored by State Senator Ray Lesniak, in 2013. All companies seeking to offer their services under the provisions of this regime must partner with an Atlantic City brick-and-mortar casino, and the game servers must be located within the casino. Only players physically inside state borders are allowed to play, but this includes visitors as well as residents.

The unfortunate thing for New Jersey is that regulated online poker has not gone nearly as well as they had hoped. Much of this likely is caused by initially outsized revenue expectations because when you consider the population of the state, it is unlikely that the amount of money that was eagerly anticipated could ever have realistically materialized.

One thing that did help the regulated market was the inclusion of New Jersey in the multi-state gaming compact, which allowed it to share poker traffic with Delaware and Nevada starting May 2018. The impact of this move was not as great as hoped for because only a single operator, WSOP.com, operated in more than one of these states. However, new states and sites have since been added to the traffic sharing provisions of this compact, so it is now finally beginning to deliver on its initial promise.

Another longshot idea was being advanced by Senator Lesniak to grow the licensed online gambling economy: a proposal to internationalize the player pool by allowing non-NJ residents to play. However, Lesniak retired from politics in 2018 without anything concrete being achieved toward these plans, and it's unlikely that anything similar will materialize in the near future.

Still, regulated NJ online poker has its niche albeit a small and humble one. If you're interested in learning more about the legalized sites in the state for online poker, then take a look at our reviews of them.

▶ WSOP.com Review
▶ PokerStars NJ review
▶ PartyPoker NJ review

Live Poker

New Jersey hosts a full array of gambling types, including parimutuel wagering, a lottery, and charitable gaming. The type of gambling that's most noteworthy within the state is casino play.

There are no tribal casinos, and there aren't as many commercial casinos as you might expect. Unlike in most other states with regulated gambling, all of the Garden State's casinos are located in one place, Atlantic City, so they're all direct competitors with each other. There are only nine casinos, fewer than there were a decade ago.

The unquestioned best cardroom is housed within the Borgata. It has 52 tables, featuring NL Hold'em, LHE, Pot Limit Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and mixed games. The blinds sometimes rise above $40/$80 depending on player demand.

The other two options for New Jersey live poker are the Tropicana and Harrah's.

History of Gambling in New Jersey

Among all 13 of the original colonies of the United States, New Jersey has, since its inception, been perhaps the most well-disposed toward gambling. Nobody quite knows why this is, but one theory holds that its diverse and heterogeneous populace was less susceptible to the influence of religious-minded authorities than in the other colonies. It's true that New Jersey was first settled by Dutch and Swedish immigrants and then grew through the addition of newcomers from the other colonies, so this idea does have some weight behind it.

Atlantic City was founded in 1854 and grew rapidly during the latter half of the 19th century as upscale New Yorkers and Philadelphians took their summer vacations there, lured by the beaches and luxurious hotels that appeared. In 1978, new laws meant that casinos could open up within AC, and thus, legalized live gambling came to occupy a permanent place in the city's economy.

By the 2010s, Atlantic City was fading fast, though, as neighboring states had begun to open up casinos of their own, driving down demand for New Jersey gambling. In Feb. 2013, the state passed legislation allowing for legal, licensed online casinos and poker rooms. The first NJ online gambling operations launched later the same year.

In 2017, a bill was passed to regulate Daily Fantasy Sports. DFS firms must follow certain rules and pay a fee of 10.5% of their gross revenue from New Jersey customers.

The newest form of wagering to hit the regulated NJ ecosystem is sports betting. In May 2018, the verdict in the Murphy v. NCAA Supreme Court case overturned a longstanding federal ban on new state-legalized sports betting opportunities. Starting in June 2018, sportsbooks began to appear at the state's licensed casinos and racetracks, and the first online sportsbooks opened for business in August.

Famous Poker Players From New Jersey

As perhaps the second-most popular state for poker and other gambling games in the country, it's no surprise that New Jersey has seen its share of local cardsharps go on to achieve fame and glory in their poker careers.

Phil Ivey

Perhaps the best-known among them is Phil Ivey who was actually born in California in 1977 but moved to New Jersey when he was just three months old. As a young man working at a telemarketing firm, Phil would venture to Atlantic City while still underage to play at the poker tables. The fake ID he used listed his name as Jerome, leading to one of his first nicknames: No Home Jerome.

Over the years, Phil has collected 11 WSOP gold bracelets and nearly a hundred cashes for $11 million in WSOP tourney earnings. He's in second place for the number of bracelets won behind Phil Hellmuth who has 17.

Ivey's success in live tournaments is by no means restricted to the WSOP; his wins in World Poker Tour, Aussie Millions, and other events are enough to push his total live tournament earnings above the $46.4 million mark.

As fearsome as he is in tournaments, he may be even better in cash games. Phil's renowned for being able to play multiple forms of poker well and is a regular in the $4,000/$8,000 “Big Game” at the Bellagio.

In recognition of Phil Ivey's success in the game, he was elected in 2017 to the Poker Hall of Fame. Today, he's regarded by many fellow players and observers as the best currently active poker player in the world.

Other notable New Jerseyites who have excelled in the world of poker include online phenom Tom “durrrr” Dwan, who hails from Edison, 2010 Card Player Player of the Year Thomas Marchese of Parsippany, and 2017 WSOP Main Event winner Scott Blumstein who is from Morristown.

Alternatives to Registering Your Poker Account in the State of New Jersey

People who are lucky enough to have another address in a nearby state, be it a business address, summer home, second apartment, family home, etc, may have other online poker options available. Here is a list of the states that border Maryland and Professional Rakeback's review on each of them: Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Virginia, and Delaware. If none of these states are of particular interest to you, then perhaps you can gain the insight you seek with our guide to USA online poker.

You may have friends, family members, and acquaintances who are fans of live poker but who don't know much about the online version of the game. Kindly consider sharing this page with them to spread knowledge about internet card games and help relieve their ignorance.

Responsible Gaming

At Professional Rakeback, we understand that no matter how much fun and diversion we get from internet poker, there are some for whom the game leads to problems. If you seek assistance for a potential gambling issue, then we recommend that you investigate the following resources:

• Gamblers Anonymous
• National Problem Gambling Helpline
• New Jersey Government's Problem Gambling Page
• Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey

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We strive to maintain this information and update it frequently with our research. However, we are not immune to making mistakes or omitting information that you, dear reader, may find of use. If you have any further questions not addressed in this guide or have noted any discrepancies or inaccuracies we urge you to contact us with your questions and concerns so that we may swiftly address them!