New Jersey Online Gambling Brief: Tropicana and Virgin Top September Promo List
With the long, careless summer days now firmly in our rear view mirror, it’s time to pack up the lawn chairs, send the kids off to school and rekindle our romance with indoor activities. In order to ease the mourning process, New Jersey’s online casinos are proud to offer patrons a swatch of new and enticing ways to rake in the winnings.
Highlighting an impressive array of Fall promotions are TropicanaCasino.com and its sister site VirginCasino.com, both of whom appear poised to draw considerable attention this September via a bevy of cashback and tie-in player incentive packages.
That’s not to say NJ’s other iGaming operators aren’t holding their own, as BorgataCasino.com and GoldenNuggetCasino.com will also be rolling out the red carpet for their loyal action junkies. Considering that New Jersey’s live gambling scene is suddenly two casinos smaller, the state’s online casinos couldn’t pick a better time to push the envelope.
Of the state’s remaining gambling venues, one has taken the lead in tying together the online and live poker worlds, hinting at a future where computerized gambling becomes an integrated fixture of b&m casino life. Who, you ask? Here’s a hint: It also just happens to be currently hosting one of the biggest live tournament poker events of the year. Alright, it’s the Borgata.
Tropicana’s Online Casino Rules The Day
Tropicana leads the way when it comes to stellar new promotional offers. Hat Trick Bonus is a limited time exclusive roll out that awards players triple the loyalty points they would normally receive for rolling the dice.
From now until Thursday night, players who wager $100 on table games, video poker and Keno or $40 on slots will receive 3 Trop Points. As per the terms of the promo, players are entitled to a maximum of 1,000 extra Trop Points. Once 20 points are accumulated they can be converted into bonus cash.
Rounding out Trop’s palette of new promotional forays is Kickoff Bonus. A football themed bonus centered on regular play, Kickoff Bonus awards players who both deposit $50 and wager $100 in any given day with $5 in bonus money. The promo works on a multiplier, meaning the more days players meet the conditions, the more they’ll earn.
Virgin’s “Play With A View” Promo Entices
Although it’s not a particularly lucrative promo on its own, VirginCasino.com’s Play with a View deserves praise for its ingenuity. Tying together Virgin’s online casino and mobile software with its social media efforts, the promo encourages players to post a picture of themselves on the site’s Facebook page.
The player associated with the picture that garners the most likes and comments will receive his or her choice of a Samsung Galaxy Tab or Apple Air and $50 in bonus money on the site.
Although the promo only awards one lucky patron, it speaks volumes regarding Virgin’s commitment to raising brand and multi-platform awareness. It’s this kind of creativity that has helped vault the partnership of Virgin and Tropicana to near the apex of NJ’s iGaming scene.
Borgata Doubles The Fun
Tired of the mid-week doldrums? Borgata is taking the boredom out of Tuesdays by offering players double loyalty points on all slot terminal play. The appropriately titled Two Times Tuesday rewards slot junkets twice the iRP they’d normally earn every Tuesday from 12 pm to 8 pm EST.
Do note that players must opt into the promo before becoming eligible. The promotional period begins on September 2 and runs through December 30, 2014.
Golden Nugget’s Rise To The Top
Since arriving on NJ’s iGaming scene, dark horse GoldenNuggetCasino.com has steadily built a loyal following, based largely on the merits of its stellar game selection. After scouring the site, I noticed six new virtual slot machines including Cash Spin, Spinning 7’s and Lady Robin Hood.
The Nugget also appears to be one of the only iGaming sites (UCasino.com and BetfairCasino.com being the others) that offers the exceedingly popular Three Card Poker.
As of July 2014, the Golden Nugget resides in fourth place among NJ’s seven online casino operators, and GoldenNuggetCasino.com remains one of the top grossing standalone sites. Pretty impressive for an online casino most expected to get lost in the shuffle.
AC Happenings
The now defunct mega-resort Revel hardly went out with a whimper. At approximately 1 am on Tuesday morning, just five hours before closing, the fire alarm would force the casino’s remaining patrons and workforce outside.
Few would return to the casino floor, with the majority either remaining outside to discuss the casino’s downfall, or filtering into Ivan Kane’s Royal Jelly Burlesque nightclub to mourn the death of a casino that was supposed to reinvent fledgling Atlantic City. Bite your tongue Governor Christie.
In a sense, it was fitting that on Revel’s final night its nightclubs and other hot spots outperformed the casino floor, if only because it was this very same outcome that would ultimately cause it to meet its end. That, and to this day no one can explain how to find the casino floor.
In more promising news, the Borgata Poker Open kicked off the festivities with a bang. The first flight of the Open’s highly vaulted Event #1 – $560 buy-in NLHE, $2 million guarantee would draw over 500 entries, an astounding feat considering that most starting flights generate significantly less interest than those closer to Day 2.
If Tuesday was any indicator, this year’s Open should perform remarkably, rendering it a terrific opportunity for the Borgata to promote its online casino to patrons staying at the hotel. Luckily, they have done so.
In taking a page out of WSOP NV’s book, the casino has set up a player’s lounge where grinders can access free wi-fi, phone charging stations and computers terminals. While they’re under no obligation, the lounge was clearly designed so that players will spend their off time mixing it up on BorgataPoker.com.
Expect activity on the site to pick up throughout this week and into next, especially when the Party / Borgata sponsored Garden State Super Series kicks off on the 7th.
