Atlantic City casino revenue in March exceeded the figures from February 2018, but AC gambling revenue numbers are still down compared to the marks set in 2017 despite a boost from NJ online casinos.
The post There Was Good News And Bad News For Atlantic City Casino Revenue In March appeared first on Play NJ.
Just when you thought Party Poker couldn´t pack any more action into its Power Series, the site has added daily PLO events to the schedule – giving fans of the four-card game the opportunity to flex their poker-playing skills in Pot Limit Omaha tournaments with guaranteed prize pools of up to $25,000.
WSOP.com made a splash this week, announcing plans to merge its Nevada and New Jersey players on May 1.
The two states have operated their online poker networks independently of each other for nearly five years now. Thanks to the framework of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA), they can finally share liquidity across borders. MSIGA membership currently stands at three, with Delaware as the third arm of the network.
The news is relevant to Pennsylvania, too. The state legalized online poker last year as one component of its omnibus gambling expansion package. Licensing has just begun, and the Commonwealth is likely to join the multistate poker agreement.
A launch timeline is still TBD, but regulators only have 90 days to act on the first applications. The applications became available on April 16. It’s high time, then, to start musing on the possibilities of a four-state poker network.
Yes, the PA iGaming law has provisions for liquidity sharing built in.
The concept is defined and addressed in a few different sections. One gives the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) the authority to enter into “interactive gaming reciprocal agreements” with other jurisdictions, which sounds a lot like the MSIGA.
Another section clarifies that licensed operators in PA can offer their games to out-of-state players. Additionally, PA players can participate in out-of-state networks. Any interstate (or potentially international) partnerships must be constructed in accordance with the laws of each jurisdiction.
There is also a provision that allows operators to bypass PA’s testing process, provided they’ve undergone “comprehensive and thorough” testing elsewhere. That carveout falls under the heading “Use of other state standards.”
Not only is Pennsylvania interstate poker possible, it seems pretty likely.
As early as last year, regulators from NJ and PA were already meeting to discuss the logistics. Those conversations are clearly reflected in the written language, which legislates around some potential roadblocks. Unlike its neighbor, for example, PA’s law permits the routing of internet gambling traffic through other jurisdictions (say, NJ).
The liquidity-sharing provisions also apply to online casino jackpots and the like.
There are 13 online poker licenses available, one for each of PA’s current and future casinos. At least 10 of those will probably launch online casinos, but only a handful are likely to pursue poker. Compared to casino games, it’s still a niche vertical.
Those properties would need to either develop their own poker platforms or partner with an existing provider. Here’s one potential scenario for an early market, with six skins spread across four networks:
Some of these partnerships are firmly in place, and some are more speculative. But this model provides something for each of the biggest brands in poker. And the more skins appear, the more incentive there would be for new/additional operators to join the space. Pala, for example, might look for an entry point. Parx could also launch online poker, though it doesn’t have a partner elsewhere.
Mohegan Sun is another operator in a speculative spot. It doesn’t have a direct partnership with The Stars Group, but the two share a mutual partner in Resorts Atlantic City. The property’s land-based license carries the certificates for both MoheganSunCasino.com and PokerStars NJ.
If Resorts wants its own back scratched in PA, the three parties could enter the market together. There’s also a working theory that PokerStars may partner with a smaller property, maybe Lady Luck Nemacolin.
It looks like partypoker has a path to market, too. Its parent company, GVC, is suspected to be aligned with Valley Forge dating back to 2015. Even if that’s not the case, the group will almost certainly find an avenue to serve the PA market. The law allows for third parties, including those without a land-based presence, to apply for unclaimed licenses.
Regardless of how the rest of the market shakes out, the 888/WSOP network is especially well-positioned for Pennsylvania online poker.
World Series of Poker (WSOP), the largest poker brand in the world, is owned by Caesars Entertainment, one of the largest casino companies. Conveniently, it holds property in Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, three states with legal online poker. And network partner 888, which provides the software, also operates the three Delaware poker sites.
Between them, they have the MSIGA map covered for the foreseeable future. Their broad reach has facilitated the first multi-state network in the country, which is poised to expand again. Should online poker roll out in PA as expected, WSOP/888 will have eight skins operating across four states.
The group also has a leg up on the tech side, it would seem. Most folks would agree that PokerStars and partypoker have superior standalone software, but those are NJ-only products for now. The 888 platform, on the other hand, is already approved by each state’s gaming regulators and authorized for interstate play.
Good behavior will give WSOP/888 additional access to some markets, too. Nevada, for example, will not give PokerStars a license due to an existing “bad actor” clause in regulations. The international market leader is serving some virtual time for its operations in the US prior to regulation.
There are no bad actor clauses in PA’s regulations, incidentally.
Pennsylvania is large enough to support its own online poker network, but it would function much better as the keystone of a multistate agreement.
As it stands right now, the three states with online poker have around 13 million combined residents. That’s about the same size as PA, which has 13 million of its own. Adding the Keystone State to the MSIGA would immediately double the reach of the network.
Since poker generates action in peer-to-peer games, the combined traffic should exceed the sum of the individual markets in short order. More players create more incentive to play, generating larger prize pools and longer periods of dense activity. That, in turn, should theoretically create more incentive for other states to join the movement.
Even with a four-state network, online poker won’t be a huge moneymaker in the short term. It doesn’t really need to be. Pennsylvania is populated by casino owners with large, multi-state portfolios and ambitions that dwarf online poker. It’s more of a marketing tool, a way to reach players in secondary markets. For WSOP, that includes driving customers to land-based WSOP events. Online bracelets events are now part of its multistate network as well.
Poker-specific brands like PokerStars and partypoker are, of course, exceptions to the above. Even those platforms, though, serve to cross-market online casino and other virtual products to some extent. In the greater scheme of things, even with shared liquidity, online poker is but a small piece of a big pie.
The post If Pennsylvania Joins Interstate Poker, The Player Pool Would Double appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.
Despite being against sports betting and litigants in the NJ sports betting case (Murphy vs NCAA), the NBA and MLB have reportedly met with NJ lawmakers ahead of a SCOTUS decision to help frame sports betting regulations.
The post Wait, What? NBA, MLB Meet With NJ Lawmakers Ahead Of Sports Betting Decision appeared first on .
GPL India Season 1 qualifiers will be held online on the PokerStars India client from May.
The Global Player League, formally the Global Poker League, has teamed up with India’s Sachiko Gaming, the local operator of PokerStars India, to create a team-based poker league with the aim to promote poker as a mind sport.
The announcement came just a few days after PokerStars.IN officially launched.
With the help of live dealer games, Golden Nugget has stormed out to a huge lead in the New Jersey online casino market. Now its competitors are looking to close the gap.
The post Two More Live Dealer Studios Are Coming To NJ Online Casinos This Year appeared first on Online Poker Report.
“They are going to shutdown all poker app on June 1st which means no more poker in China.. A lot of people ask me how I feel, I feel I just want to cry…”
WSOP.com and 888Poker finally launched a shared player pool for Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware.
These networks will implement the new model formulated from a liquidity sharing agreement between the states May 1, according to a press release.
Bill Rini, WSOP.com’s head of online poker, said that elected leadership and regulatory authority brought about this huge collaborative effort.
“Everyone has had the end user in mind throughout this process, and as a result, we believe the United States, for the first time in a regulated environment, will have a large-scale multi-state offering that will propel the industry forward as soon as next month.”
In October, New Jersey finally caved and joined Nevada and Delaware in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA), reported Online Poker Report.
This makes it official. The six-month impressive turnaround took half the time of the initial agreement between Nevada and Delaware. That one was signed in February 2014, then enacted in March 2015.
888Poker is the only online poker operator in all three states, with a monopoly in Delaware (powers the only three online sites in the state) and the power of WSOP.com online in Nevada and New Jersey. The site also keeps its own branded site in New Jersey.
In the short term, 888 will combine traffic across the sites and nearly double traffic in Nevada and Delaware. Current cash game numbers indicate that it will more than double its traffic New Jersey.
As a whole, pre-established cash game traffic and the combined player pools will average out to at least 250 players and more than 500 players at peak traffic.
The intent was to launch prior to the World Series of Poker in late May, but even so, the players in New Jersey can now participate in online bracelet events for the 2018 WSOP. These were previously restricted to players in Nevada, but the additional allowance will keep traffic strong during Nevada’s seasonal peak.
By combining player pools, 888 and Caesars plan to bring in more players from the other NJ poker sites, bring back players jaded by poor player numbers, and entice new players with bigger tournaments and more cash games.
The various time zones also increase the peak hours in all locales, which could also contribute to cash game traffic.
For WSOP.com, regulations in New Jersey made determinations of servers within states easy. Because NJ regulations require gaming equipment to be physically located within the state where the gameplay occurs, WSOP and 888 will migrate the gameplay to NJ by May 1.
So, when players log in to their accounts, they will actually log in on servers based in New Jersey. While New Jersey is basically business as usual (software update), players in Nevada will need to create a new account on the combined system.
Delaware players will also similarly create an account and take a software update. Players outside these state or the U.S. will need to redo the identity verification process, as those are solely stored in Nevada.
These players will need to create new accounts and re-upload those documents, according to the FAQ from Online Poker Report.
In effect, this closes the current account and migrates funds, tournament tickets, loyalty points, and responsible gaming limits, sans hand histories and player notes.
Most players can retain their screen names. However, players in Nevada and Delaware need to confirm that these aren’t taken by New Jersey counterparts. Otherwise, a shared screen name will go to the more established player (based on longevity, activity, and reward status).
Players can get a head start with the WSOP.com client by pre-transferring. The potential start date of that is April 23. Players will have their account prepped and loaded for launch day. The transfer takes 72 hours.
Those who plan ahead also automatically enter into a drawing for a $10,000 Main Event seat. Players also get a sign-up bonus, 100 percent match up to $1,000 plus a handful of tournament tickets. NJ isn’t left out with a reload bonus.
Logins may look the same; players still log in to clients in their current market.
One visible change will be the lack of heads-up displays (HUD), a tool used by poker players to provide on-screen information to generate poker player profiles.
Because Nevada prohibits them and New Jersey has no stance, they won’t be permitted on WSOP.com or 888 moving forward. Additionally, hand history storage and mass downloading won’t be available to prevent tracking software. Players can view the last 30 days within the system through the in-client replayer.
Players can still play WSOP online bracelet events in NJ or NV.
No other sites in New Jersey (e.g., Borgata and Pala Poker) currently have entries into the Nevada market.
The post May 1 Marks The Start Of Tri-State Online Poker Liquidity appeared first on Play Nevada.