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NJ Online Gaming Scoop: Cash Game And Tournament Traffic For The Week Of Feb. 26

Online poker in New Jersey suffered a bit last week, and so did much of the state for that matter.

The nor’easter that hit the East Coast left about 170,000 residents in New Jersey without power. Around 100,000 were without power for more than 24 hours and it may be mid-week before all power is returned. And another, more powerful storm is scheduled to hit the area.

It’s impossible to say whether the power outages affected poker traffic, but the poker rooms were a little slower this week.

The cash games posted a decrease of 3% and peak traffic numbers were off 6.8% compared to last week.

The tournament scene also saw a decrease. There were about 10% fewer entries into the Sunday Majors this week.

To be fair, the drop in tournament registrations wasn’t unexpected as the New Jersey Poker Classic II ended the week prior, and the New Jersey Turbo Series didn’t seem to translate into cash game traffic.

A look at the last two years of traffic data does show a spike in traffic towards the end of March and into April.

The upcoming schedule has some promising entries to hopefully help keep a spring traffic bump a yearly trend.

From March 9-19, live and online poker collide when the World Series of Poker Circuit lands in Atlantic City.

It’s always exciting when live and online poker get together, but it’s even more true with this integration. Recently, it was announced that New Jersey will host its first-ever Online Circuit Ring Event on March 18, to coincide with WSOPC stop in the Garden State.

Satellites are running now on WSOP.com for the online event and will begin on March 11 for the WSOPC Atlantic City Main Event.

It will be fun to watch how the traffic shapes up over the next few weeks.

With that said, let’s take a detailed look back at the cash game and tournament trends in the New Jersey online poker market for the week ending March 4, 2018.

New Jersey’s online poker operators

New Jersey has seven online poker sites operating on four separate networks.

During the week of Feb. 26 – March 4, New Jersey online poker sites averaged 254 cash game players, a decrease of 3.3% from the previous week’s number of 262.

Peak traffic numbers came in at 657 players, a decrease of 6.8% from the previous week’s number of 607. The busiest night of the week was Thursday, March 2 with 718 players hitting the tables.

Here’s how those players are distributed across the four online poker networks.

Borgata-MGM-partypoker

The seven-day rolling peak traffic average for partypoker was 183 cash game players. That’s an 8.7% increase compared to last week’s number of 168.

WSOP-888

The seven-day rolling peak traffic average for WSOP/888 was 220 cash game players. Compared to last week’s number of 181, WSOP/888 saw a significant 21.4% increase in traffic.

PokerStars NJ

The seven-day rolling peak traffic average for PokerStars was 253 cash game players. Compared to the 253 players that the site averaged last week, PokerStars saw a minimal 1.2% decrease in traffic.

Pala Poker

  • Platform provider: Pala
  • Sites in network: PalaPoker.com

Cash game traffic and tournament entry data was unavailable for Pala Poker at the time the data was collected for this article.

*Cash game traffic data provided by PokerScout.com. Collected March 5, 2018.

Evaluating cash game traffic trends

What WSOP/888 lost in traffic a week earlier, they gained back this past week, posting a 21.7% increase in cash game traffic. partypoker also gained some ground posting an increase of 8.7%, while PokerStars remained relatively flat.

With the online casino revenue hitting records in New Jersey this past month, it has to be disappointing that the poker rooms aren’t following suit.

It feels like a positive growth trend is waiting to happen, but it has yet to materialize. With a few weeks left in the first quarter of 2018, there has been a 7.5% increase in online poker traffic from this time last quarter.

Before you get too excited, the year over year numbers are dismal, posting 21.3% decrease in the traffic from the same time period last year.

WSOP/888 had the best week in terms of growth, while PokerStars maintains its leader of the pack status in terms of numbers and market share.

Looking forward, as mentioned earlier, The World Series of Poker Circuit will be making a stop at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City from March 8-19.

The schedule includes the first Online Ring Event in New Jersey. Additionally, satellites to the Main Event will be running from March 11-16.

We’ll have to wait and see if the land-based integration of a major tournament series with online poker will post some positive numbers.

Another traffic driver may come by way of satellites to the World Series of Poker in Nevada. The next round of satellites should be announced soon.

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Tournament Report: A look at the Sunday Majors

Each week, the four online poker networks host a signature Sunday tournament. This week the major tournaments were:

  • The Borgata/partypoker/MGM online poker network hosted a $40,000 guaranteed tournament with a $215 buy-in.
  • The WSOP.com and 888 network hosted the $215 Ultimate Warrior $40,000 guaranteed tournament, also with a $215 buy-in.
  • PokerStars NJ hosted the Sunday Special, a $200 buy-in with a guaranteed prize pool of $45,000.
  • Pala Poker usually hosts the $1,000 Guaranteed Pala Mega Rebuy with a buy-in of $30, but the information was not available during the writing of this article.

Additionally, while the guarantees are much lower than their signature tournament, PokerStars also hosted The Turbo Series New Jersey this past week. The tournament series ended on March 4, 2017.

Major tournament results for March 1, 2018

All online poker operators returned to their regularly scheduled Sunday major tournaments this past week.

While Pala Poker’s numbers were unavailable at the time of this writing, the remaining three sites posted a 10% decrease in registrations.

The decrease in registrations was expected since the New Jersey Poker Classic II ended the week prior.

PokerStars continued to host The Turbo Series New Jersey through Sunday, March 4. It didn’t seem to help boost registrations, though. For the second week in a row, PokerStars had an overlay on its Sunday Major.

PokerStars missed its guarantee by $1,290 as reflected in the decrease in registrations. And while partypoker and WSOP/888poker exceeded their guarantees, it wasn’t by much.

There is a bright light on the schedule that will hopefully turn things around.

We are looking forward to The World Series of Poker Circuit stopping in Atlantic City. There is hope it will bring a boost to both cash game traffic and tournament registrations.

Awarding the first ever online circuit ring on March 18 should translate to big numbers for WSOP/888.

A boost in numbers may come as early as this week thanks to satellites for the online event. Additionally, WSOPC Atlantic City main event satellites will be running on WSOP.com beginning March 11.

And with that, here’s a look at the total number of entries for the largest tournament held on each of the three main online poker networks in New Jersey:

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Nevada Poker Report For Jan. 2018: Revenue Holds Steady In Down Month

The top line takeaway from the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s first revenue report of 2018 was a disappointing two percent decline in total casino revenue.

Zooming in to individual games, January was more of a mixed bag. Slot revenue was up over three percent, but table games were down over 10 percent.

Poker revenue managed to avoid the table game downturn, as revenue was more or less flat year-over-year. In January 2018, Nevada’s poker rooms generated $8,996,000, compared to the $9,001,000 they collectively generated in January 2017.

That said, a deeper dive into the numbers shows the 2018 tally is stronger than it looks. The NGCB counted 65 poker rooms and 596 poker tables in January 2017. This year’s numbers are 63 poker rooms and 568 poker tables, according to the NGCB.

Taking this into account, on a per table basis, January 2018 outperformed January 2017:

  • January 2017 table average: $15,102
  • January 2018 table average: $15,838

This is a continuation of the trends that emerged in 2017. Despite a dwindling number of poker rooms and tables, the remaining rooms and tables became more efficient revenue generators.

2017 in review

Poker rooms and tables trends in 2017

  • January 2017: 65 poker rooms and 596 poker tables
  • February 2017: 67 poker rooms and 600 poker tables
  • March 2017: 66 poker rooms and 596 poker tables
  • April 2017: 64 poker rooms and 586 poker tables
  • May 2017: 62 poker rooms and 724 poker tables
  • June 2017: 62 poker rooms and 731 poker tables
  • July 2017: 63 poker rooms and 724 poker tables
  • August 2017: 63 poker rooms and 603 poker tables
  • September 2017: 62 poker rooms and 598 poker tables
  • October 2017: 61 poker rooms and 572 poker tables
  • November 2017: 62 poker rooms and 580 poker tables
  • December 2017: 61 poker rooms and 562 poker tables

Poker in Clark County

In January 2018, Gaming counted 38 poker rooms in Clark County, which includes the heavily trafficked and larger poker rooms from Las Vegas. In January, those rooms possessed a total of 453 poker tables. Even though it’s a significant decline from a year ago, those numbers are largely unchanged from December’s totals: 38 poker rooms and 455 poker tables.

Clark County has over 90 percent of the total poker market share in Nevada. In January, Clark County poker rooms accounted for $8,129,000 of the $8,996,000 poker dollars collected by the state’s card rooms.

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Poker on the Las Vegas Strip

Zooming in even closer, The Las Vegas Strip is the real money-maker. Poker revenue from the Strip’s 18 poker rooms was $5,631,000 in January, even though the Strip only accounts for a fraction of the poker rooms and tables in the state, 18 and 259 respectively.

Nevada poker rooms by the numbers

The largest poker rooms in Las Vegas are mainly found on the Las Vegas Strip:

  • Venetian (The Strip) – 37 poker tables
  • Bellagio (The Strip) – 37 poker tables
  • Orleans (Las Vegas off-strip)- 35 poker tables
  • Wynn (The Strip) – 28 poker tables
  • Aria (The Strip) – 24 poker tables
  • South Point Casino (Henderson) – 22 poker tables
  • Green Valley Ranch Casino (Henderson) – 22 poker tables
  • Red Rock Casino (Summerlin) – 20 tables

Historical data and trends of poker in Nevada

Here’s a look at several key poker metrics from the UNLV Center for Gaming Research, which has been tracking the number of poker rooms, tables and revenue since 1992:

Year # of Rooms # of Tables Total Revenue % Change YoY
1992 92 564 74,701,000 -2.57
1993 89 571 70,814,000 -5.20
1994 93 586 71,667,000 1.20
1995 92 574 66,520,000 -7.18
1996 82 539 64,485,000 -3.06
1997 77 490 61,509,000 -4.61
1998 76 526 58,873,000 -4.29
1999 70 546 63,244,000 7.41
2000 68 473 63,064,000 -0.28
2001 65 475 59,673,000 -5.38
2002 57 386 57,791,000 -3.15
2003 58 383 68,276,000 18.15
2004 79 484 98,862,000 44.80
2005 96 701 140,224,000 42.00
2006 106 886 160,929,000 14.77
2007 113 907 167,975,000 4.38
2008 113 913 155,724,000 -7.29
2009 114 905 145,580,000 -6.54
2010 109 920 135,200,000 -7.13
2011 104 872 131,877,000 -2.46
2012 99 809 123,253,000 -6.54
2013 88 774 123,891,000 0.56
2014 79 736 119,904,000 -3.18
2015 76 681 118,023,000 -1.57
2016 73 661 117,753,000 -0.18
2017 71 615 118,455,000 0.60

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Pennsylvania Lottery Drawing Attention To Problem Gambling Awareness

Pennsylvania Lottery reminded players this month to be wary of compulsive or problem gambling.

“As part of our commitment to be socially responsible, we ask every player to always play responsibly,” said Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko. “That means playing within your financial means and only for entertainment.”

The Pennsylvania Lottery recently achieved World Lottery Association’s Level 2 Responsible Gaming Certification for promoting responsible play.

In recognition of National Problem Gambling Awareness Month, the lottery released information regarding the warning signs of gambling problems.

“Most adults can play lottery games without issue, but anyone who may be struggling with gambling addiction should not play at all,” Svitko said. “In addition, we strongly discourage adults from giving games to children; players must be 18 or older.”

Signs of a gambling issue

The following are considerations when determining if gambling has become problematic:

  • Causes financial hardship
  • Harms relationships with friends or loved ones
  • Interrupts work, school or other activities
  • Impacts physical or mental health

People with these issues also become fixated on gambling, betting money more often, and chasing the feeling of winning when faced with losses. The person may also become irritable when attempting to stop gambling and may not be able to stop themselves from continuing to gamble.

This could also lead to lying or hiding the issue, using it as a crutch for other issues, or anger and depression.

For those who need assistance or would like to explore their options, PA does offer a confidential hotline, 1-800-GAMBLER (426-2537), and a 24-hour chat service at www.pacouncil.com, operated by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Lottery continues to support the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

Lottery allows blocking, looks forward to spring

For the Pennsylvania Lottery, there’s just as much excitement incoming with the launch of the iLottery. The iLottery, complete with scratch-offs, Keno, and draw games, will make PA the fifth state to offer this platform. The governor expects this change to draw $74 million for the state over the first five years of operation.

This new platform will also allow players to block themselves from playing online lottery games for up to five years. The state will launch more online casino platforms this year. This spring could continue to bring profits for the state.

Looking beyond PA

Public funding allocated to problem gambling services across the U.S. in the last three years still remains fairly slim. Including District of Columbia, 10 states have yet to develop any funding for these services at all.

In 2017, dedicated problem gambling funds rose 22 percent, from $60 million to $73 million. Even so, the gap across states can create a services void.

“If keeping people healthy and safe is a priority, then we should expand funding for problem gambling education and treatment, not keep cutting it,” said NPCG Executive Director Keith Whyte.

 

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Poker Industry PRO: “It Was A Disaster For Us”: partypoker Goes Offline During Final Day of KO Series

Overlays now expected in the Power Series that is currently underway.

Online poker operator partypoker suffered a technical malfunction during the last day of its new KO Series—the progressive knockout tournament series that had a $10 million total guaranteed prize pool.

The KO Series went offline at approximately 8pm (GMT) on Sunday night after a “server malfunction” caused the online poker platform to crash, leaving many players with a reduction in value due to the cancellation of tournaments whose guarantees were unlikely to be met.

Read the full article on pokerfuse →