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WSOP Satellites And Promotions Are Ramping Up On WSOP.com

As springtime tries its best to take over for the winter blues, WSOP.com is embracing the spring theme.

A brand new round of satellites and promotions are in bloom for New Jersey and Nevada online poker players.

Both sites are currently offering similar satellites and promotions, although the times and terms may be different depending on your time zone.

Keep in mind New Jersey and Nevada still host separate player pools. However, there is speculation that combining the East and West coast player pools is on the horizon.

For now, here is what WSOP.com has available to help you get your online poker fix.

2018 World Series of Poker Satellites

The best way to win your way into the 2018 World Series of Poker is on WSOP.com. The site continues to offer a plethora of satellites giving players multiple chances to earn a tournament ticket.

Every weekend in April, you’ll find several satellites on both the Nevada and New Jersey poker platforms. Direct satellites begin at $10, but check the tournament lobby for super satellites starting at just $1.

Satellite Buy-In Nevada Start Time (PT) New Jersey Start Time (ET)
2018 WSOP Kick-off Weekend Package Satellite $30 Sundays – 4:45 p.m. Not Available
$565 The Colossus at the 2018 WSOP Seat Satellite $10 Sundays – 5:45 p.m. Sundays – 5:45 p.m.
$1,000 2018 WSOP Turbo Seat Satellite $10 Sundays – 6:45 p.m. Sundays – 6:45 p.m.
$10,000 WSOP Main Event Seat $320 Sundays – 7:00 p.m. Sundays – 7:00 p.m.
$365 WSOP Online Bracelet Seat Satellite $10 Sundays – 7:30 p.m. Not Available
2018 WSOP Kick-off Weekend Package Satellite $30 Sundays – 7:45 p.m. Sundays – 7:45 p.m.
$565 WSOP Online Bracelet PLO Seat Satellite $10 Sundays – 8:00 p.m. Not Available
$1,000 WSOP Online Bracelet Turbo Satellite $15 Sundays – 8:30 p.m. Not Available

Nevada online poker players click here, and New Jersey online poker players click here for more details on the WSOP.com satellites.

Show Me Series

Do you want to know what your opponents are folding? Well then, you’ll want to play the Spring Show Me Tournament Series.

The eight-event series, boasting over $10,000 in guarantees, exposes all hole cards on showdown. Everyone can join the fun with buy-ins ranging from $3 to $20.

A tournament series leaderboard will be used to track players’ performances. The player with the best series performance will receive a tournament ticket to the WSOP $365 Online Bracelet event.

The Spring Show Me Series begins Sunday, April 15. Here is the complete schedule.

Day, Date Event Buy-In NV Start Time (PT) NJ Start Time (ET)
Sunday, April 15 Show Me Series Kick-off $2500 GTD $10 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Monday, April 16 Show Me Series $500 GTD $10 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Tuesday, April 17 Show Me Series $500 GTD $3 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Wednesday, April 18 Show Me Series $750 GTD – 6 max $5 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Thursday, April 19 Show Me Series $500 GTD $7 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Friday, April 20 Show Me Series $500 GTD $7 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Saturday, April 21 Show Me Series $1,000 GTD $10 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.
Sunday, April 22 Show Me Series $4,000 GTD $20 6:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m.

Spring Reload Bonus

Make sure you have the bankroll to support your quest for a WSOP tournament ticket by doubling what you deposit into your WSOP.com account.

The Spring Reload Bonus matches your deposit of up to $100 when you use the code SPRING18.

Here are the details:

  • Promotion code is valid through April 15
  • A Player’s account will receive a $10 credit for every 100 APPs earned
  • The maximum credit is $100
  • Players have seven days to fulfill the APP requirements to claim the reload bonus

For the more information on the Spring Reload Bonus, Nevada poker players click here and New Jersey poker players click here.

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Happy Hours (New Jersey Only)

New Jersey online poker players have a chance to win more during Happy Hour. Players will reap the benefits when they take a seat on the virtual felt from 8 p.m. – 12 a.m. (ET) during all of April.

There are two bonus options for players to choose from:

  • Option A: Earn double APPs by wagering $1 or more in cash games
  • Option B: Play at least three days or wager $100 in cash games in a qualifying week and win up to $100 cash

Additionally, option B adds an element of surprise to the promotion. You’ll receive either a $1.00 BLAST Tournament Ticket, $5.00 BLAST Tournament Ticket or $100 cash after qualifying for option B. You’ll be notified of your winning prize via email.

Qualifying Weeks for Option B are:

  • Week 1: Sunday, April 1- Saturday, April 7
  • Week 2: Sunday, April 8- Saturday, April 14
  • Week 3: Sunday, April 15- Saturday, April 21
  • Week 4: Sunday, April 22- Saturday, April 28

To be eligible for the Happy Hours promotions, just choose your option and opt-in through the links via email or online in the poker room lobby. More information can be found at WSOP.com.

More promotions can be found on WSOP.com

There are plenty more promotions including daily freerolls, leaderboard contests, and guaranteed tournaments. You can find a complete list at WSOP.com.

You are now in the know, and there is no time to waste! The WSOP gets underway in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 29. There is no better time or place to start preparing and building your bankroll then right now and on WSOP.com.

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Rotten Egg Arraigned In Counterfeit Mohegan Sun Easter Promo

This year Easter and April Fool’s Day coincided. However, in 2014, a scam at Mohegan Sun Pocono over Easter was not a prank.

This month, former Mohegan Sun executive Robert Pellegrini was arraigned on charges related to the scam. Pellegrini allegedly tried to rig a $10,000 Easter promotion at the Pennsylvania casino.

Pellegrini was charged with the following:

  • Theft
  • Receipt of stolen property
  • Criminal conspiracy to commit money laundering

Interestingly enough, Pellegrini is currently serving a nearly three-year sentence on charges related to an entirely different scam at the casino.

Promotion featured a $10,000 plastic egg

Per details in the Times Leader, the promotion featured a basket of plastic eggs containing various prizes. Allegedly, Pellegrini conspired to rig the contest so a particular customer selected the winning egg, which included a $10,000 cash prize. After the contest, the winner, Mark Heltzer, supposedly kicked back some of the winnings to Pellegrini and his two associates.

Heltzel was not arraigned on any charges.

This is the second casino scam tied to Pellegrini

During his time at Mohegan Sun, Pellegrini served as the VP of Player Development for the property. He is currently serving time for an entirely different scam he ran at the casino.

This con also involved Weltzel. The two, along with a cocktail server, stole PIN numbers off of player rewards cards at the property. Pellegrini would use these numbers to load free credit onto duplicate player rewards cards. He then gave those to Heltzel to play.

From 2014 to 2015, Heltzel gambled with almost $480,000 in free play credits, generating $420,000 in profits.

The courts determined Pellegrini was the ringleader behind the scam and sentenced him to 32 months in federal prison. He began serving that sentence last June.

While Heltzel is not currently facing charges in the Easter scam, he was sentenced to 18 months for his role in the player fraud activity.

Will these mean more fines for Mohegan Sun?

As a result of the loyalty scam, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) fined the casino $550,000. This fine came at the same time as the casino racked up a $450,000 fine for working with two vendors that did not have the proper casino licenses.

There are no convictions in the Easter scam as of now. However, as with any fraud issues at a casino, there will almost certainly be a PGCB investigation.

Certainly, it appears as though Pellegrini was a bad egg who is no longer an employee at the casino. However, with so many incidents in a short period of time, there are questions about how seriously Mohegan Sun is taking gaming integrity these days.

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New Jersey Online Gambling Revenue Continues To Shatter Records

New Jersey online gambling numbers were released this week, and we are beginning to sound like a broken record. Literally, records were broken. Again.

Overall casino revenue and several individual operators set a new bar for measuring success. Outside of poker, there is very little bad news in the report. Poker, on the other hand, continues to have a hard time finding a positive trend line.

March 2018 online gaming revenue summary

Overall revenue was $25.6 million. It shattered the previous record set last month by more than $3 million. That is the most substantial one month increase since regulated gaming began. It is the third consecutive month revenue has been in record territory, a first for the industry.

Golden Nugget continues to stand tall above the rest, earning more than Borgata and Caesars combined. But the real story is that Caesars also posted record numbers and is the only operator to boast a month over month double-digit percentage growth in both the casino and its overall revenue number.

Borgata maintains its second-place position, but it is holding on by a thread. It is on the verge of slipping down a spot if Caesars continues to build on its strong earnings from the month.

Tropicana and Resorts remained flat in March. Even so, Resorts’ number was also in record territory. Tropicana was the only operator that came in under the $4 million in revenue mark.

Take note that the month over month numbers have been normalized to account for the three extra days in March.

New Jersey overall online revenue numbers

  • Casino: $23.6 million for the month
    (Up 5 percent month over month for a 21.1 percent increase year over year)
  • Poker: $2 million for the month
    (Up .2 percent month over month for a 12.7 percent decrease year over year)
  • Overall: $25.7 million for the month
    (Up 5 percent month over month for a 17.6 percent increase year over year)

Online revenue detail by operator

Borgata (Borgata, Party, Pala, MGM)

Second place has been home to Borgata for last few months, and that is true for March – barely. Caesars is only $170,000 off Borgata’s overall number of $4.58 million. Looking at the complete picture, Borgata posted decent revenue numbers with the casino up 9.77 percent month over month and poker up 5.52 percent. Poker is still falling short of last year’s numbers but posting a healthy number in positive territory is encouraging.

Borgata’s revenue numbers

  • Casino: $3.96 million for the month
    (Up 9.77 percent month over month for a 6.95 percent increase year over year)
  • Poker: $622,620 for the month
    (Up 5.52 percent month over month for a 4.31 percent decrease year over year)
  • Overall: $4.58 million for the month
    (Up 9.17 percent month over month for a 5.27 percent increase year over year)

Caesars (888, Caesars, Harrah’s, WSOP)

A new month means a new story for Caesars’ revenue picture. Last month it posted the biggest losses in both the casino and poker rooms. This month it had the biggest month over month percentage increase (31.35%) for the casino.

Poker is the same old story, though. It continues to struggle to find momentum. Its poker room brought in more money ($565,797) for March, but when the number is normalized to account for the extra days, it actually posted a decrease of 6.69 percent.

Caesars’ revenue numbers

  • Casino: $3.85 million for the month
    (up 31.35 percent month over month for a 56.48 percent year over year)
  • Poker: $564,797 for the month
    (Down -6.69 percent month over month for an 18.5 percent decrease year over year)
  • Overall: $4.41 million for the month
    (UP 24.83 percent month over month for a 40 percent increase year over year)

Golden Nugget (Golden Nugget, Betfair, SugarHouse)

Golden Nugget surpassed $8 million for the first time in March. Its position as the leader in the space is secure. It continues to dominate the market by earning more than double its nearest online casino competitor.

The online casino produced $8.65 million in March. Even with a record number, normalizing the revenue to account for the extra days in March, its revenue fell .86 percent month over month. Its year over year number continues to impress and sits at 40 percent.

Resorts AC (Resorts, Mohegan Sun, PokerStars NJ)

Resorts ended the month flat with month over month percentage increases of 1.27 percent for the casino, 1.48 percent for poker and 1.31 percent overall. The casino brought in $3.45 million, which is revenue record-setting month for the operator.

Resorts’ revenue numbers

  • Casino: $3.45 million for the month
    (A 1.27 percent month over month for a 5.03 percent increase year over year)
  • Poker: $778,949 for the month
    (Up 1.48 percent month over month for a 14. 29 percent decrease year over year)
  • Overall: $4.23 for the month
    (Up 1.31 percent month over month for a .84 percent increase year over year)

Tropicana (Tropicana, Virgin)

Tropicana didn’t cash in on some of the big revenue numbers posted by other casinos and remained relatively flat for the month.  Its monthly revenue of $3.69 million is a .28 percent decrease month over month for a 4.38 percent decrease year over year. Its small declines are the only month over month and year over year declines for casinos.

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Final Thoughts

Online casino numbers continue to skyrocket, while operators are still trying to find some footing on the poker front. Poker continues to negatively impact the overall year over year numbers for the industry.

It will be interesting to see if Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resorts Casino, two new New Jersey online operators expected to launch later this year, will offer poker or take a wait-and-see approach.

There is a lot of positive momentum on the national online gaming landscape. Legislation has new life in New York, while Pennsylvania is getting ready to launch online gaming later this year, and sports betting is on center stage awaiting what everyone hopes will be a positive decision from the Supreme Court.

All of that momentum could mean online gaming in New Jersey will continue to hover in record territory.

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Here’s Why MGM Buying Wynn’s Boston Casino Makes Sense

It’s been difficult to keep up with all of the news and rumors circling around Wynn Resorts. One piece of news that’s hard to ignore though is the potential sale of the Wynn Boston Harbor casino project to rival MGM Resorts.

Multiple outlets have reported the story, but by all accounts, a deal is in the very preliminary stages.

If talks progress, there are a lot of wrinkles to iron out beyond the sale price:

  • Massachusetts law forbids companies from holding multiple MA casino licenses.
  • Both companies are bound by host community agreements. Wynn’s is with Everett, while Springfield has a deal with MGM. These agreements allow the cities to veto any sale.
  • The host community agreements include guarantees of sizable investments in the city that neither community is likely to reduce in order to help facilitate a sale.

Basically, for this to work:

  • Both casinos would have to be sold in a short window of time.
  • Everett would have to sign off on the sale of the Wynn project to MGM.
  • Springfield would need to okay the sale of the MGM casino to whatever company emerges as a buyer.

As such, this would be one of the trickiest sales in gaming history.

There are a long list of other news items in the region that make a deal like this all the more far-fetched:

But maybe it isn’t that far-fetched after all?

The only way this makes sense

The following is pure speculation on my part. However, the only way this shuffling of casinos makes sense is if one, or both, of the Connecticut tribes were the suitor for the MGM Springfield casino.

That would result in a Wynn (ICWUDT) for almost everyone involved.

Good for Wynn

Wynn would benefit in a couple of ways.

First, it would bring the investigation in Massachusetts regarding Wynn’s suitability to a close. More than any other jurisdiction it operates in, Massachusetts has heavily scrutinized the Steve Wynn sexual misconduct allegations.

The fate of the Wynn license is still up in the air. Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby says the company is proceeding at its own risk while the regulatory group investigates.

“Wynn is making the decision to proceed,” Crosby told local press. “There is an investigation going on, and they will be doing this at their risk. That the decision they made and that’s fine with us.”

As such, by selling before there is a decision on the company’s suitability in Massachusetts, Wynn Resorts should still be able to get top dollar for the Everett casino. If they wait, and there is a negative ruling, they might have to unload the casino at a significant discount.

Good for MGM

MGM switching from its Springfield project to Everett would be a major upgrade in terms of the size and  location of its casino.

The Everett casino is roughly 15 minutes from Boston proper. Plus, at $2.4 billion, the property will be a world-class resort, capable of drawing visitors from around the globe. By comparison, the Springfield casino is in a western Massachusetts city with a population of around 150,000 and no major airport.

As long as MGM can offload its billion-dollar Springfield casino, taking over the Wynn Boston Harbor project would be a major upgrade.

Good for Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun

It’s no secret that Connecticut’s two tribal casinos are going to be hard hit by Massachusetts’ casinos.

So it wasn’t too surprising that both tribes made serious bids for Massachusetts’ casino licenses.

Unfortunately for the tribes, neither bid panned out. Foxwoods proposal for a Milford casino lost in a town referendum, and Mohegan Sun’s proposal at the Suffolk Downs racetrack was beaten out by the Wynn project.

To try to shore up their flank, the two tribes sold the state of Connecticut on a joint satellite casino near the Massachusetts border with Springfield.

I’ve likened the $300 million tribal casino that will sit about 15 minutes away from a $1 billion resort casino to bringing a knife to a gun fight. I think the satellite casino will struggle, but it will also have a negative impact on the MGM Springfield casino.

Whether it’s one of the tribes alone, or both working together, if MGM Springfield comes under its/their control the satellite casino is no longer needed.

Further, the tribe or tribes would get what they wanted all along, a Massachusetts casino.

Good for Massachusetts, and both casino cities

Massachusetts would be able to put the ugly mess of the Wynn scandal behind it, and at the same time put an end to the brewing casino border war with Connecticut.

The city of Everett would also put the Wynn mess in its rearview mirror and receive some much-needed clarity about the future of its casino project.

Springfield would eliminate the proposed satellite casino on its southern border, lessening competition in the region.

Bad for Connecticut?

The only potential loser in this scenario would be Connecticut.

However, the state’s inability to make decisions on what type of gambling expansion they support, despite the tribes imploring the legislature to legalize online gaming and sports betting, as well as the state’s unwillingness to write off the idea of opening up the state to commercial casinos, has likely frustrated the tribes and reduced their confidence in the state.

That said, if the tribes migrate to Massachusetts, it could make Connecticut’s gaming decisions much easier.

The state’s decision on land-based expansion would be made for it, with the  satellite casino permanently shelved and perhaps an agreement built into the sale that would see MGM drop its efforts build a commercial casino in Connecticut.

That would allow Connecticut to focus on sports betting and online expansion like the tribes want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Online Poker Could Be Better Than A Bailout For NY Casinos

The movie Field of Dreams added the phrase, “If you build it, he will come,” into our lexicon. So much so, it looks like the state of New York took that phrase very literally when it decided to green light four commercial casinos.

The problem is, the state didn’t stick around to watch the end of the film where the true meaning of the phrase was revealed.

If you didn’t watch until the end, you missed the whole point of the movie. You end up thinking the film was about building a baseball field in the middle of nowhere that magically attracts visitors. In real life, New York copied this model and built four casinos in the middle of nowhere.

The difference between Field of Dreams and New York’s casinos? People in major population centers aren’t making the several hours long drive to go to the casinos.

The results… not so good

New York’s four new commercial casinos are as follows:

  • del Lago
  • Tioga Downs
  • Rivers Casino Schenectady
  • Resorts World Catskills

All four came up well short of their initial revenue projections last year. At least two, Rivers and del Lago, even petitioned the state for tax breaks. So far, the state has emphatically rejected the requests for help.

In its first year, Tioga Downs missed the low end of its tax target by 25 percent.

  • In its first year, del Lago missed the low end of its tax target by 27 percent.
  • In its first year, Rivers missed the low end of its tax target by 33 percent.
  • Resorts World has only been open for two months.

Tioga Downs

On Dec. 2, 2016, Tioga Downs became the first of the four new casinos to open its doors.

Tioga Downs was the closest to hitting its full Year 1 tax target of $31-$38 million, but it was still well short of the initial projections. The property sent $23.3 million to the state and local municipalities in FY 2017/2018.

del Lago Resort and Casino

The second of the four new casinos to come online was del Lago, which opened on Feb. 1, 2017.

The casino was projected to generate $59-$76 million in gaming tax in Year 1, but only managed to generate $43.29 million from $145.59 million in gross gaming revenue.

Rivers Casino and Resort Schenectady

Rivers had its ribbon-cutting ceremony a week after del Lago, opening to the public on Feb. 8, 2017.

In FY 2017/2018, the property sent $45.94 million in gaming tax to the state and local municipalities. That was well short of the estimated $69-$86 million it was projected to generate over the course of its first 12 months.

Resorts World Catskills

The final casino to open its doors was also the biggest, Resorts World. The $1.2 billion casino in the middle of nowhere opened on Feb. 8, 2018.

Resorts World hasn’t been open long enough to compare its actual revenue with projections, but thus far the numbers are falling well short of the projections.

The lesson of NY casino expansion

The New York casinos picked locations where they thought they would create the most economic benefit. The locations were also selected with appropriate buffer zones around the new and existing gaming establishments in mind.

What the state failed to consider was how locating the casinos in these far-flung areas would affect visitation.

At the end of the day, a good-paying casino job isn’t too good if there aren’t enough customers to sustain it.

What happens next for the ailing properties?

The state will now have to decide if it admits its error and lessens the burden (taxes or otherwise) on the casino properties, or if it will do nothing and simply cross its fingers and hope something like legalized sports betting will be just what the doctor ordered. For the moment, at least, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others think doing nothing is the way to go.

Some sort of bailout would cut into the amount of tax revenue the state receives but would help put the businesses on more solid footing and avoid shedding a significant number of jobs created by the casinos. The latter would likely lead to at least one of these properties closing its doors in the not too distant future, barring some sort of miracle.

However, there is also a third option.

The state could throw these casinos a lifeline by legalizing online gaming.

Online poker, something that is already on the legislative agenda in 2018, would generate some $50 million in revenue for operators, which would work out to several million dollars in tax revenue for the state.

Furthermore, if the state has the stomach for it, the legalization of online casino games via a constitutional amendment would generate exponentially more money for the casinos and for the state.

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