NJ.Party and BorgataPoker support reps are saying that you can't play for real money if you don't have a SSN (which non-Americans do not). Is that true??

I'm a Canadian visiting NJ. I can play for real money on WSOP-NJ (and just had to upload verification docs)...but Party/Borgata telling me I can't create an account unless I have a SSN...?

I'm sure this isn't correct. Anyone can play as long as you're in NJ or NV as long as your ID can be verified.

That's what I thought too -- that's how it works on WSOP.NJ.

But I talked to both a low-level support rep and a supervisor and they both said exactly the same thing: no SSN >> can't create an account. In fact, on the account creation page for both Borgatapoker.com and Partypoker.NJ, the "SSN" field is marked as required, and you can't change the dropdown from "United States of America" (and I'm Canadian).

So there's literally nowhere to go if you don't have a SSN. Which is what prompted me to call their support line, and get told the above...do party/borgata reps read these forums?

For the record, per N.J. Regs..

i. Patron's Social Security number or equivalent for a foreign
patron such as a passport or taxpayer identification number;

So a foreign patron need's to provide a passport or TID#.

Exactly. So a SSN is not a necessity.
Now someone just needs to let Party and/or Borgata know about that. b/c all of their support reps (all 3 I talked to) swore up and down that a SSN was an absolute requirement per the NJ regs. They're obv wrong...someone just needs to tell them. Party? Borgata? Bueller?

In order to play for real-money, New Jersey regulations require that players first verify their identity and are physically present in NJ. At present on our sites this entails providing a valid SSN, registered mailing address and birth date. Hence, any user wishing to play real money poker cannot complete the registration without the SSN.

Kind regards,

Party_Rep
http://nj.partypoker.com, twitter: @partypokerUS
Email : support.nj@partypoker.com , Phone : 877 448-5831 (Toll free)

OK, so you acknowledge then that providing an SSN is NOT technically required (again, WSOPNJ does not require one to create an account and play for real money)...but you choose to require it anyway? Why was that decision made? Why can't I verify my identity by scanning / faxing a copy of my passport?

Hey, Party Rep, I don't think you ever replied to these Qs. I really would like to play on Party_NJ when I go back there this weekend. And as I mention, on WSOPNJ a SSN is NOT required (as long as I fax them my passport and address verification.) So is this simply a policy that Party / Borgata have made on their own? Can you double-check that this is still the case, since it seems strange that you would not want foreign players to be able to play on your site while they're in NJ.

+1 would like to play there too. no SSN though

Unfortunately, there's 0 chance of you playing on Party Poker this weekend. The rep recently explained a SSN is required. I doubt this rep is going to continue on this thread answering all of your continuation questions. Party Poker obviously has their reasons as to why they require a SSN. The odds of a rep explaining those reasons to us are again "0". So basically your "drawing dead" on either playing Party Poker anytime soon, or getting any legitimate feedback from them.

Peace & Love,

Vercetti

I happened to notice that the latest PartyNJ updated introduced something i don't think was there before. In the CHOOSE YOUR STATE dropdown, there's a "ZZ" abbreviation...which I know some sites use when your state/province is not a US State with a 2-letter abbreviation.

Gave me hope that perhaps Party/Borgata were going to join the other NJ operators in allowing foreign players (without SSNs) to play...but alas the "Country" field is still grayed out / locked in as "USA", and the SS field still seems to be 'required'.

I take it there's been no movement on this front, Party_Rep?

Here's an interesting question related to this thread. The IRS assigned me a separate EIN for my poker playing business as a sole proprietarship. (I file a Schedule C with my 1040 using this number).

Typically, when casinos need to issue me a W2-G, it against that EIN rather
my SSN, since that's the EIN of my poker-playing business.

As such, I would expect I'd use that EIN rather than my SSN for this
purpose. I wonder if Party_Rep can comment on that.

I case anyone cares about this, I got the following email from PartyPoker:

Bump. Party_Rep, did this ever get resolved?

As pointed out above, there's definitely no NJ regulatory requirement that all players have a valid SSN as I am able to create an account and play for real money on WSOP in NJ once I sent them a scan of my passport.

But Party-NJ and Borgata appear to still require a valid SSN, even for foreign persons who do not have an SSN, a policy that never made any sense.

Has anything changed in this regard? Can foreign players without an SSN create real-money accounts on Party or Borgata in NJ?