Rutgers Gets $1.3 Million to Study Internet Gambling

The Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University has been awarded nearly $1.3 million to study online gambling in New Jersey.

The survey will begin in January with funding coming from the Division of Gaming Enforcement and the state health department. 1,500 adults in New Jersey will be interviewed by phone and 2,000 residents will be surveyed over the Internet about their gambling behavior and Internet gambling. A follow-up survey will be done about a year and a half later. The center also will provide four yearly reports to Gov. Chris Christie.

New Jersey is one of only three states where gambling on-line is legal and researchers are interested in learning how people respond to it. Internet gambling began last November as a way to help Atlantic City's casinos. So far, on-line revenue has been a fraction of what the state anticipated it would bring in.