Philly.com – Coming to a Starbucks in New Jersey: Five guys huddled around a corner table with laptops open playing poker online.
That was a scenario discussed at an Internet gambling conference last month in Philadelphia.
“You’re going to have an informal clustering of people,” Joe Brennan, former chairman of iMEGA, an online-gaming association, predicted at the World Regulatory Briefing.
“That’s natural social functioning,” he said.
Does that mean poker players and slots addicts will flood free public Wi-Fi hot spots like Wegmans and Starbucks now that online gambling is legal in New Jersey? Will retailers allow it?
Some will. Some won’t.
Asked before online gambling’s trial period started Nov. 21 if it would allow people to gamble using free Wi-Fi in its stores, a Starbucks spokeswoman said: “Unfortunately, at this time we do not have any information to share.”
For the moment, at least, Starbucks appears to be allowing. An Inquirer reporter succeeded in gambling at Tropicanacasino.com at a Starbucks in Galloway Township on Tuesday, the day online casinos opened to the public.
Wegmans, on the other hand, blocked gambling sites before it was legal, and “we have no plans to change that,” said spokeswoman Jo Natale.
Dunkin’ Donuts is thinking about what to do.
“We’re proud to offer our guests free hi-speed Wi-Fi access at many of our U.S. Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants. We are currently assessing our Wi-Fi usage policy for stores in New Jersey, in light of the recent legislation,” said Justin Drake, a spokesperson for Dunkin’ Brands.
