New Jersey Online Gambling Brief January 30, 2014
The full potential of the deal between partypoker and the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Prudential Center is far from being realized, but visitors to these arenas are starting to get a first look at the innovative marketing ideas the deal is expected to bring about.
In this week’s New Jersey Online Gambling Brief we’ll take a look at these early marketing efforts of partypoker in New Jersey, as well as fill you in on how the licensed market has already impacted the unlicensed market. We’ll also recap the recently concluded WSOP.com Online Championships ***SPOILER ALERT there were MASSIVE OVERLAYS***, and a whole lot more.
partypoker signage makes appearances at Devils and 76ers games
[Read in iconic Hank Williams Jr. Monday Night Football voice] Are you ready for some online poker advertising?
Well, that’s basically what partypoker is asking fans of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils as they begin to rollout their advertising campaign in both team’s home arenas. John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal gave a firsthand account of his experience at a recent 76ers game he attended.
George first describes the partypoker kiosks at the Wells Fargo Center where he was serenaded with calls of: “Any poker players in the house?”
The next thing to catch his eye is the partypoker logo emblazoned all over the Jumbotron and LED lighting above the stands, including what George described as a “replay on the scoreboard of a Michael Carter-Williams drive to the hoop was sponsored by nj.partypoker.com.”
In addition to the in-arena marketing mentioned by George, both the Devils and 76ers websites heavily promote partypoker, and online contests like the NJ.PartyPoker.com Dream Seat Series are running at the online poker site.
Licensed online poker affecting unlicensed rooms
Licensed online poker has already brought about one significant sea change in New Jersey, the departure of one of the largest unlicensed online poker providers in the US, the Merge Gaming Network.
According to reports, most Merge Gaming skins are now barring players from New Jersey and Delaware from their tables.
The most likely reason for the decision would seem to stem from the stiff penalties on unlicensed operators in both of these states—as legislation didn’t just legalize online gambling, it also increased penalties for unlicensed operators.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the other unlicensed operators in the Garden State to see if they follow Merge’s lead or if they continue to tempt fate.
WSOP.com Online Championships = Overlay City
WSOP.com definitely saw a significant traffic spike during its Online Championships tournament series, but make no mistake about it, the big winners were the players, who were not only treated to massive prize-pools, but massive overlays as well.
No tournament featured a bigger overlay than the $530 buy-in; $250k guaranteed Main Event.
The Main Event attracted 328 players and featured an $86,000 overlay, which was basically 1/3 of the entire prize-pool!
When the final bell rang it was a familiar name in the world of online poker, and one of the most dominant early forces in the new regulated New Jersey online poker market, Stephen “SizzlinBetts” Reynolds who took home the top prize.
- sizzlinbetts – $63,750
- jtxo5 – $36,250
- Pupperpants – $21,500
- hulksmash – $16,500
- bSeck83 – $14,000
- flushoff11 – $11,500
- Deuxexmachin – $8,750
- rules316 – $5,750
- KShekels – $4,000
We thought you should know…
- The live final table of partypoker’s New Jersey’s Next Poker Millionaire promotion will take place on Saturday at the Borgata Hotel and Casino. You can find more details on the final table participants and the grand prize here.
- Lest you think online poker is the only option in New Jersey for online gambling, check out this story about a Monmouth man hitting $150k jackpot at BorgataCasino.com.
- After picking up ground during their recent Online Championships tournament series, WSOP.com has continued to narrow the margin on partypoker according to www.pokerscout.com’s data numbers. At the time of writing the Party/Borgata network has a 7-day rolling average of 220 players and WSOP.com is now nipping on their heels with a 7-day rolling average of 200 players.
