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Horse-racing enthusiasts are heading into one of the year’s most popular weekends. The 144th running of the Kentucky Derby is May 4-5.

While horse racing might be alive and well in Kentucky, that is not necessarily the case across the country.

In 2003, wagers on horse races equaled $15.2 billion in the United States. By 2014, that number dropped to $10.5 billion.

Take Michigan for example. Last month one of the two remaining horse race tracks, Hazel Park Raceway ceased operations just one month before opening day.

A few weeks later, Northville Downs, the sole remaining track announced its intent to sell its track and adjacent land to a housing developer. Northville Downs will remain open through the 2020 season and intends to reopen on another site. Whether that happens or not depends on the state of the horse racing industry.

Can sports betting reverse declining horse racing revenues?

The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision in a case that addresses the federal ban on sports betting outside of Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana.

Experts predict an opinion to come in favor of overturning the ban. Then it will most likely fall on the states to regulate sports betting within its borders.

Sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball are preparing for the potential decision. They are busy lobbying states to include an integrity fee in their legislation. Even the PGA, has taken a stand in support of sports betting.

What about horse racing, though – will it benefit from the legalization and regulation of sports betting?

Alex Waldrop, the president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, says yes.

“We’ve seen some growth that’s occurred by partnering with casino gaming across the country. Frankly, the sports bettor probably has more affinity for horse racing than a casino patron, who is possibly only interested in slot machines. Gambling on other sports is not unlike gambling on horse racing, because we’re talking about athletic contests. So there’s perhaps the potential for more crossover between horse racing and sports betting. We’ll wait and see.”

Racetracks believe sports betting can save the market

Monmouth Park Racetrack, a staple on the New Jersey Shore for over 139 years is readying its property for sports betting ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“New Jersey has created a chance for racetracks and casinos to be involved in sports betting,” Monmouth Park attorney Dennis Drazin said. “I believe that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor, so the racetracks obviously will benefit. We’ll get people to come back to the racetrack — people that will stay because there will probably be in-play wagering also so that people will be engaged.”

London-based sports book, William Hill that currently operates in Nevada, invested in a sports bar at Monmouth Park. The capacity of the bar taps out at 300 people. Monmouth Park is planning an expansion into the grandstand that will increase its size to accommodate up to 7,500 people.

We think the demand is gonna be that big,” Drazin said. “We would anticipate being ready to go within two weeks of the date the Supreme Court rules.”

Casinos weigh-in on how sports betting will impact horse racing

“I can only project that if sports gaming is expanded across the country, some of these new jurisdictions will be at racetracks,” Jay Kornegay, vice president of the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino SuperBook said. “I can only see that as a positive for these racetracks, as we know a lot of them are struggling right now.”

It’s not all positive, though, there is some uncertainty out there.

Chris Andrews, director of the South Point Sportsbook in Las Vegas, thinks sports betting may actually hurt the industry.

“I was at the Golden Nugget for about a year and a half, and we had a race and sportsbook together. And as a lot of guys were just kinda sitting around watching the games or waiting for them to start, they would play some horses — that’s kind of the mentality of a gambler. [Legalization] may take some of the handle out of guys that are putting money in the horse book, who might convert that over to the sportsbook. But I think that remains to be seen.”

The good news is horse racing is faring better around the world in markets with sports betting. Declining markets saw a reversal in the trend when sports betting began.

“If you look at other markets where [horse] racing is growing — and I think Australia is probably the best example — horse racing in Australia 10 years ago was in a multiyear decline,” Kip Levin, the CEO of Paddy Power Betfair US & TVG said. “When online sports betting started to take off, you saw a shift.”

Paddy Power Betfair operate the popular TVG mobile app. According to officials from the company, horse racing is the second-most popular wager in Europe, behind soccer.

The key to leveraging sports betting is through mobile apps

Sports betting alone might not be enough to bring large amounts of bettors to the tracks. Inevitably, there will be an increase, but the most significant gains stand to come through online and mobile wagering.

“Right now, specifically online, we’re focused on racing fans or educating customers to become racing fans, said David O’Rourke, New York Racing Association vice president and chief revenue officer.

O’Rourke says its a struggle to encourage someone to sign up for an account when they are not a horse racing enthusiast. If sports betting were legal, though, it would be easier.

NYRA is preparing for the day when they can add other sports to their apps.

“We definitely feel positive in the sense that these products are complementary,” said O’Rourke. “Right now we handle wagers on horse racing as a sporting event. There’s likely betting on other sports going on that’s not in a regulated format, and we feel that if [legal] sports betting were expanded to include these other sports, it would give us the opportunity to cross-sell.”

Will legalized sports betting benefit the Kentucky Derby?

Whether you believe legalized sports betting will help or hinder the horse racing industry is all supposition at this time.

There are a lot of issues that still need to be resolved:

• How will the Supreme Court rule?
• Will states immediately introduce sports betting regulations?
• Will race tracks evolve their product offerings?

The only thing we know for sure is that mid-summer will begin to provide some answers. That is when the current U.S. Supreme Court session ends. A decision on the legislation is due before then.

The Kentucky Derby is one race that isn’t in jeopardy of going extinct – at least for the foreseeable future. It did see a drop off in attendance last year, but wagering still broke records.

Big horse races, like the Derby, capture attention across the nation. If even a portion of that attention translates to a wager, The Kentucky Derby will continue to break revenue records.

This weekend, as fans marvel at the perfectly manicured grounds, take in the over-the-top derby hats, and pick their favorite horse, remember the Kentucky Derby may look a little different next year.

Pending a positive opinion from the Supreme Court, next year those fans may have some skin in the game making “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” even greater.

The post Will Legalized Sports Betting Benefit The Kentucky Derby? appeared first on Play USA.

The 2018 NJSCOOP came to a close on Monday after 17-day series that included 40 high and 40 low buy-in events.

The New Jersey version of SCOOP promised to be “NJ’s richest tournament series ever” with guarantees of over $1.3 million.

It looks like PokerStars lived up to its promise with total prize pools totally over $1.5 million, more than $200,000 more than was guaranteed.

NJSCOOP 2018 is one for the record books

Of the 80 total events, only four high and six low buy-in events failed to meet the guarantee.

It was mostly the mixed games that had an overlay. The only game to miss its guarantee in both the high and low version was Event #34: Limit Stud H/L.

The largest turnout was for Event #37 – Low: $50 NLH Main Event. The 1,173 entries produced a prize pool of $53,371.50, over $13,000 more than what was guaranteed.

One of the tournaments that fell short was Event #37 – High: $500 NLH, 2-Day Main Event. It had a guarantee of $200,000 and fell short of its guarantee by $4,010. Even so, it still had 416 entries. You can still catch a replay of the final table on the PokerStarsNJ client.

With 70 of the 80 events exceeding its guarantee, NJSCOOP continues to prove itself as one of, if not the most popular online tournament series in New Jersey.

Moneymaker making money in NJSCOOP

As is often the case with online poker tournaments, it can be hard to see who is having a good series. Well, one player has a hard time flying under the radar regardless of where he is playing.

Chris “Money800NJ” Moneymaker, often credited with igniting the poker boom after his 2003 WSOP Main Event win, is recognized whenever he sits down at a poker table – both online and in person.

Streaming his series and tweeting about it makes it impossible to elude the headlines. As it turns out, this past weekend was headline worthy for the PokerStars pro.

Pretty decent night on @PokerStarsNJ stream

1st in $200 stud 8
1st in $200 weekend warmup
2nd in 50 rebuy 3 max @dude904

— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) April 29, 2018

And that was before his fourth-place finish in the $200 Mixed NLHE/PLO.

When asked about the highlight of the weekend, it wasn’t a specific hand or win that Moneymaker talked about. It was the community.

“It’s the community in New Jersey. I play the NJSCOOP every year, and it’s always the same guys,” Moneymaker told USPoker. “It’s a really tight-knit community. There’s a lot of communication at the table, a lot of talking back and forth, and it’s just a little bit different experience than what one would normally be used to when playing in an online setting. ”

Moneymaker in the winner’s circle

Moneymaker admits to having a target on his back every time he takes a seat in a tournament. It is no secret players play differently against the big names of the game.

Even so, he spent the weekend streaming his NJSCOOP grind, knowing full well it would attract attention and maybe even criticism.

“Streaming is tough because you’re trying to explain your thoughts, you’re trying to answer questions, and you’re also trying to play two or three tables at a time,” said Moneymaker. “It’s a lot of work. It adds to your day, instead of focusing on just playing poker, you’ve got a lot of other stuff going on.”

When asked if he thought streaming helped or hindered his game, Moneymaker said both.

“I think it helps overall, but it does hinder some. [It helps] when you have actually to vocalize your decision, explain why you’re doing it, and walk through the steps, so it makes sense to people.”

Moneymaker goes on to explain that hurts the other games he is playing outside of the mainstream. He isn’t putting as much attention or time into the decisions in those events.

“At the end of the day, it’s okay to have the other ones lose a little bit of their expected value if you can increase your expected value in the main one.”

Moneymaker’s thoughts on NJSCOOP and poker in New Jersey

Moneymaker admits to liking this series. He travels from his home in Tennessee to the Garden State every year to play.

“[PokerStars] has a really good series here and it has grown since the inception. Every year it gets bigger. Last year, I think we were camping out at about a thousand people online. This year, I noticed that we had tipped over 1500.”

The numbers indicate online poker as a whole is declining in New Jersey. It seems as if players are looking towards shared liquidity and specifically, Pennsylvania coming online to help reverse the trend.

Moneymaker agrees Pennsylvania will have a considerable impact on the state of online poker in the state.

“The biggest thing for poker is having the volume and the mass of players that are playing at any given time. With Pennsylvania coming online, and then hopefully adding the player pools together it’ll make it a lot easier to find games. Then maybe you’ll start seeing more and more people playing during all hours of the day.”

Platinum Passes, SCOOP, and the WSOP … Oh, my!

PokerStars is getting itself ready for the time that legal and regulated online poker spreads across the U.S.

“People in the U.S. have very fond memories of PokerStars after Black Friday,” Moneymaker said. “They have a lot of goodwill built up in the U.S., and they want to be relevant in players minds. So as states do regulate, they’ll remember PokerStars.”

One way PokerStars hopes to remain relevant is by creating buzz about the PokerStars Player’s Championship.

“There hasn’t been a whole lot of opportunity for U.S. players to pick up Platinum Passes,” explains Moneymaker. “One of our big pushes going forth for the rest of the year is to get some of these passes into the pockets of U.S. players and get some buzz going around in rooms across the country.”

Two New Jersey residents took home a Platinum Pass valued at $30,000 – each by winning one of the two Main Events. Derik Li won his pass by claiming victory in Event #37 – Low: $50 NLH Main Event for $5,302.35. Michael Page won Event #37 – High: $500 NLH Main Event for $36,015.96 to pocket his.

Li and Page joined Maria Konnikova, Thai Ha and David Peters as US players who have secured a ticket to the highly-anticipated PSPC in the Bahamas in January 2019.

The next chance in North America for a Platinum Pass happens up north. While not in the U.S., a lot of players make the trek to Canada for SCOOP. Moneymaker is one of them.

Moneymaker has a busy few months ahead of him. After a few weeks at home with his family, Moneymaker will venture up north to his apartment just outside of Toronto, Canada.

It’s there that he will play the last half of SCOOP, one of his favorite online events. Coming off a successful weekend of streaming at NJSCOOP, Moneymaker says he will likely stream from May 13 – 18. Family and some personal appearances are preventing him from playing the full series.

Later in the summer, Moneymaker will head out to Las Vegas, Nevada for the WSOP. He doesn’t play a full series because summer is his time to be with his wife and kids.

He can’t, however, imagine not playing the tournament that made him a household name.

“I don’t want to say the excitement has worn off,” Moneymaker said about the Main Event. “Any time I’m able to go play a big buy-in poker tournament it’s always a really cool thing.”

One thing is clear after talking to the former Main Event champion is he loves his job.

“Whether I’m playing the Main Event or even if I’m in New Jersey, I realize I’ve got a pretty cool job. I’ve had it pretty well, and I’m very thankful for that.

The post Chris Moneymaker Streams His Way To NJSCOOP Success appeared first on .

Players have a lot of choice when it comes to NJ online casinos. But not all online casinos in New Jersey are created equal. Some have a huge library of games while others offer unique and user-friendly software.

Some run great promotions on a regular basis while others offer some rather lucrative bonuses for new players.

It can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, but thankfully, we have done most of the heavy lifting for you.

Here’s a look at the current top five NJ online casinos to play at and the reasons why these particular online gambling sites made the list:

Golden Nugget

Golden Nugget launched late, finally getting online in New Jersey in December 2013. At first, it lagged behind popular online casino sites like Borgata and Caesars.

However, after jumping on the NYX open platform system in 2015 and ramping up its VIP rewards program, Golden Nugget has grown into the largest and most successful online casino in the state. Golden Nugget has developed a huge game collection, and it continues to break monthly NJ online casino revenue records, now regularly pulling in more than $6 million per month.

Its promotions aimed at drawing in new players are also quite competitive, even if they are tough to clear.

New players at Golden Nugget can claim a $20 no deposit bonus just by signing up for an account using the bonus code PLAY20.

Clearing the bonus requires players to meet a rather tough five times the bonus plus the bonus wagering requirement within 30 days of sign up.

Slots count 100 percent toward meeting the wagering requirement. However, table games, roulette, blackjack, and video poker count only 20 percent toward meeting the wagering requirement.

100 percent up to $1,000

Golden Nugget also offers a first-time deposit bonus. The bonus includes a 100 percent match of any first deposit up to $1,000. This is among the largest first-time deposit bonus offered in the NJ online gambling industry.

However, the wagering requirements are quite onerous. Slot players are required to play through 20 times the deposit plus the bonus.

Table game, roulette, blackjack and video poker players must play through 100 times the deposit plus the bonus. That means a blackjack player who deposits $1,000 will have to wager $200,000 before the $1,000 bonus is available for withdrawal.

Plus, players only have 30 days to meet the wagering requirements.

Regardless, Golden Nugget’s massive library of more than 500 games clearly keeps it among the top five NJ online casinos to play at. Even if its bonuses are difficult to clear.

Betfair

Betfair was almost out of the New Jersey online gambling market as fast as it had entered it.

It runs the world’s largest betting exchange, but apparently, that doesn’t mean much in New Jersey and players didn’t recognize the Betfair brand at first. Plus, it opened up under the Trump Plaza internet gambling license just before the property went bankrupt.

It managed to stay afloat and found a permanent home operating under the Golden Nugget online gambling license in November 2014. Since then, the site has added more games, increased promotions, and improved its player loyalty program.

New Jersey gamblers have taken notice and signed up, in part because Betfair offers the most lucrative bonus structure for new players in the industry.

Betfair offers new players a $30 no deposit bonus just for signing up using the online promo code PLAY30. This is the largest no deposit bonus on offer in the NJ online gambling market.

The bonus itself cannot initially be redeemed for cash. However, any winnings accrued can be withdrawn once players make a deposit.

Biggest in the business

Betfair also offers new players the biggest deposit match bonus in the business. It’s a 100 percent match up to $2,500 for first-time depositors.

The wagering requirement is 20 times. That means it’ll take $50,000 in wagers to clear $2,500, but only by playing slots. Roulette counts only 50 percent toward the wagering requirement, and all other table games just 10 percent.

Players have 90 days from the time they received the bonus offer to clear the wagering requirements.

It has the best new player bonuses in the business. Plus, an attractive and healthy slate of NJ online casino games. That makes Betfair one of the top five NJ online casinos to play at. The name may be new to NJ players, but there’s little doubt its becoming more familiar to them every day.

Virgin

Virgin launched in early 2014 under Tropicana’s internet gambling license. It is a sister site to Tropicana. In fact, Virgin is run by the same New Jersey arm of the UK-based online gaming software company Gamesys. The site is almost identical to Tropicana.

It runs a similar competitive and unique new player bonus structure. The only real differences come in the form of marketing, branding and a few game titles that are unique to each site.

New players at Virgin are eligible for a little larger $25 signup bonus when they register for a new account using the online bonus code 25BUCKS. There is a wagering requirement, but again, it’s only one time, making this one of the easiest bonuses to clear in the industry. However, the wagering requirement must be met within 30 days of signup.

More cashback bonus

Like Tropicana, the unique side of the bonuses for new players on Virgin comes in its first deposit bonus, which isn’t really a first-deposit bonus.

Instead of a matching a certain percentage of a first deposit on the site for new players, Virgin gives players a cashback bonus guaranteeing players won’t lose their first deposit up to $100.

Players can claim any losses they suffer in the first seven days after the deposit. Virgin will refund them the full amount of the loss up to $100.

Again, the refund comes in cash, so it can be withdrawn immediately. Plus, there’s no need to enroll and no promo code is necessary, as first-time depositors are automatically in.

Virgin’s unique and competitive bonus structure, coupled with its user-friendly Gamesys software, helps keep it among the top five NJ online casinos to play at. The game selection isn’t anything to write home about, but there’s surely something for everyone there.

Caesars

Caesars casino launched as one of the first online gambling sites in New Jersey back in November 2013.

It was a partnership between Caesars Interactive Entertainment and Amaya Gaming. However, Caesars Interactive Entertainment dropped Amaya’s software in favor of the NYX Gaming Group and its open gaming system in September 2015.

That meant 40 new NYX games on the site. Plus, Caesars expanded its offering further in December 2015 after signing a third-party software agreement with NetEnt to hosts its games.

The result is a much more robust online casino product than Caesars originally launched in New Jersey.

New and improved bonuses

From the beginning, Caesars offered a competitive welcome package to new players. But its new and improved now. The offer now includes a $25 no deposit bonus for all players who sign up with the site using the exclusive bonus code PLAYFREE25.

There is a one time playthrough requirement at slot machines or 10 times at video poker that must be complete before this bonus can be withdrawn.

Caesars also offers a 100 percent match bonus up to $300 on any player’s first deposit.

It’s not the biggest bonus on the market, but the wagering requirements aren’t the toughest either. In fact, the wagering requirement is just three times the deposit and the bonus on slots and 30 times the deposit and the bonus on video poker. Table game players must play through the bonus plus deposit 60 times to clear it.

The new and improved bonuses with very welcoming wagering requirements makes Caesars one of the top five NJ online casinos to play at. The game selection is also improving all the time as well, ensuring it keeps a place on this list.

888 Casino

888 provides software for all of Caesars Interactive Entertainment’s NJ online casino and poker sites. Plus, it runs its own online casino under the Caesars internet gambling license.

888 Casino uses its own in-house software. New games are developed in house and supplied by Net Entertainment and The Stars Group. This gives it a unique feel among New Jersey online casinos. Plus, the bonuses for new players are competitive.

Uniquely good bonuses

New players at 888 can claim a free $25 bonus exclusive to NJOnlineCasino.com. However, it does come with a rather tough 48 times wagering requirement.

There’s also a $500 welcome bonus for first-time depositors that’s a little less difficult to get ahold of.

When you deposit for the first time, the site gives you a 100 percent bonus up to $500 on that deposit.

This bonus has a 30 times wagering requirement on slots. However, it goes up to 150 times for roulette, and a 300 times for blackjack and video poker. Additionally, players have just seven days to clear the bonus or it will expire.

888 Casino has a unique feel and competitive new player bonuses. That makes it one of the top five NJ online casinos to play at, even if the bonuses can be tough to clear.

The post We Give These Five NJ Online Casinos A High Five For Being The Best Of The Best appeared first on NJ Online Casino.