A month ago we reported that the majority of NJ online casinos had bulked up their gaming libraries, with as many as 40 new slot titles, video poker variations, and table games.

Well, September brought a slowdown in activity, no doubt due to the concentration on NJ sports betting, for which just about every brick-and-mortar casino has added. Plus, there are the eight online sportsbooks, too, some connected to online casinos.

But there are some new and interesting games, so let’s take a look at how our local NJ online casinos are faring these days.

The newcomers

This month’s report includes New Jersey’s two newest online casinos: HardRockCasino.com and OceanOnlineCasino.com. Both of these online casinos are tied to Atlantic City’s recent brick-and-mortar additions: Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort Casino.

The Hard Rock online casino has come out of the gate running, and after just three months, it has an impressive roster of 264 titles in its gaming library. This includes 262 slots and two blackjack variations.

In the last month Hard Rock has added 22 new games, including seven Slingo games and three more recent titles:

• Great Tiger: This Asian-themed game pays both ways — left to right and right to left — and utilizes Stacked Symbols. Land enough scatter symbols and you’ll head to the Free Spins Bonus. Lucky players can win up to 50 free spins and 300 credits x bet multiplier if six scatter symbols appear.
• Riverboat Queen: Here you will match wits with the queen of the river and try to earn the progressive jackpot. While the game has no Wild symbol or Free Spins Bonus, there is a Wheel Bonus, which can earn you cash/credits up to 200-5,000x your bet multiplier.
• The Big Easy: Head down to New Orleans for a taste of southern hospitality with symbols such as a seafood platter tumbler of bourbon and all things musical. The Free Spins Bonus game is unique in that it starts off on a side street in the French Quarter where you choose a Jazz Club — this will determine your free spins (8-25). Then you head inside the club to choose an instrument — this will determine your multiplier (2X-10X). Then spin away.

Ocean Resort is starting out a bit smaller, with 120 titles of which 119 are slots and one is a blackjack variation. Its newest games include:

• Black Diamond
• Dragon Pays
• Fortune and Glory
• Ocean Magic
• Wild Wild Gems

Go big or go home

Three online casinos made some nice additions last month. While not the incredible 20-40 gaming additions that many did the prior month, they’re definitely pulling their weight and giving their customers a lot of new games at NJ online casinos to play.

Sister casinos Resorts and Mohegan Sun both added 12 new games and now have 543 and 533 games, respectively. That puts them squarely behind game leader Golden Nugget (with 583).

Among the newest titles at Resorts and Mohegan are:

• Jungle Jack: This comical take on Tarzan and Jane has a more unusual 6 reels and symbols include jungle Jack and Jungle Jane, along with their cigar-chomping gorilla sidekick. The banana tree acts as your wild, which comes in three flavors, regular, stacked or expanding, while the scatter symbols are the bananas themselves. The wilds and the scatters appear on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5 only. It will take three or four scatters to initiate the Bonus Game, which uses slightly different reels.
• Jumanji: A take on the popular 1995 and 2017 movies of the same name, this game is loaded with features and multiple bonus games. There’s the Sticky Vines feature, Monsoon Wilds, Monkey Mayhem and the Wild Stampede. Each feature also has a Free Spins game that comes into play when you get to the Jumanji Board Game. This game is a whole lotta fun with an RTP of 96.33 percent.
• The Three Graces: This slot also features the more unusual six reels, with a 3-4-4-4-4-3 configuration. Your symbols include the three Graces (goddesses), Jack-Ace, and a Wild. The Wild appears on reels 3, 4, and 5 only, but can expand left up to and including reel two. It also can appear stacked on a reel, making for multiple line wins. There’s also a Scatter symbol, which appears on reels 2-5 only, and you’ll need three to enter the Free Games Bonus, which uses a different reel set.

Caesars is the third online casino to substantially increase its gaming library, with the addition of eight new slot titles. It now has 460 slot titles, 10 blackjack variations, 22 video poker games, and 10 table games, for a total of 494. Its latest additions are:

• Chili Chili Fire
• Fairytale Legends: Mirror Mirror
• Jumanji
• Kingdom’s Edge
• Red Fortune
• Sparkling Roses
• Swipe and Roll
• Volts and Bolts

Middle of the road

Three NJ online casinos added three to four new games last month.

SugarHouse lost one blackjack game but added five new slots for a net gain of four. That puts it at 465 games overall. SugarHouse added Witchcraft Academy (in time for Halloween), Egg-O-Matic, Sparkling Roses, and Celestial King.

Sister casinos Tropicana and Virgin both upped their gaming libraries by three, all slot titles:

• Fairytale Legends: Mirror Mirror: This is the newest in the fairytale series from NetEnt, following in the footsteps of Fairytale Legends: Red Riding Hood and Fairytale Legends: Hansel & Gretel. This particular slot plays off the tale of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. There are 3 random features in this game — the Fairy Magic Spin, Fairy Surprise and the Fairy Mirror feature — as well as three bonuses (Mining Bonus, Free Spins Bonus, and Coin Wins Bonus).
• Monkey Prince: An Asian-inspired game featuring three Monkey Prince Masks that do not pay but are added to a running total in the upper left corner. Amass these to access three special features. Collect five blue masks and the game will randomly turn 3-4 symbols to Wild on your current spin. Collect five red masks and it will place Stacked Wilds on 1 to 5 of the reels for your current spin. Or, collect five gold masks and the game will turn one symbol into a Surrounding Wild, which can award up to nine Wilds.
• Swipe & Roll: Set in a 1950s diner, this retro slot has two Diamond Wild variations (1x and 3x), a Coin Wheel that appears randomly and guarantees a prize, and a Free Spins Bonus with a different reel set that you swipe up and down on your own.

Aces and deuces

These are the casinos that added just one or two games during September.

Borgata’s online casino added three new slots but lost one blackjack variation for a net gain of two. The site ends the month with 357 titles. Its newest titles include Lion Festival Boosted Celebration, Red Fortune, and Sparkling Roses.

Over at playMGM, there were also three new slots and the reduction of one blackjack game. Adding King Kong Fury, Black Diamond, and Swipe and Roll, this online casino now has 371 total games in its library.

Golden Nugget, our leader in total games, netted one new game in September. It actually added one slot and one table game but lost one blackjack variation. (I’m sensing a theme here.) French Roulette is the new table game, while Ever After is the new slot addition (a take on the Cinderella fairy tale). Golden Nugget ended the month with 524 slots, 19 blackjack, 22 video poker, and 19 table games.

Last but not least is Betfair with one new slot addition. This casino sits squarely in the middle of the pack game-wise. It ended September with 357 titles, including 337 slots, four blackjack, 12 video poker, and four table games.

All quiet on the games front

We’ve got two casinos that went quiet last month. 888 Casino and Harrah’s both remained status quo with no new additions to their gaming libraries. In all fairness, 888 did add 30-plus games in the previous month, so it’s not surprising it has taken a break. 888 heads into October with a total of 200 games, while Harrah’s is still stuck at 103.

Then there is Pala Casino, which actually cut three slot titles from its lineup, leaving it with 281 titles overall, including 264 slots, four blackjack titles, eight video poker games, and five table games.