New Jersey Online Gambling Brief February 20, 2014
New Jersey’s online gambling industry is on solid footing according to some of the world’s top analysts, and the market still has tremendous potential for further growth according to a recent poll that was conducted. Add it all up and the future looks very bright for NJ iGaming.
In this week’s New Jersey Online Gambling Brief I’ll take a look at these projections and polling data; discuss the Borgata’s online satellites to the World Poker Tour Championship that will be held at the Borgata for the first time this April; and discuss the continued run-good of Stephen “sizzlinbetta” Reynolds at the WSOP.com online poker tables.
Keep reading for the specifics on these stories and a whole lot more from the world of New Jersey online gambling.
Polls and analysts like the cut of NJ’s iGaming jib
Despite some lackluster early revenue reports for December and January from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, analysts like Moody’s and Fitch Rating’s still see a lot of room for growth in New Jersey when it comes to online gambling, and expect the market to double or triple in the coming year or two.
Based on the first two months of reporting the yearly revenue for New Jersey iGaming is looking like it will be in the $100 million range, but according to Fitch, Moody’s, and other analysts, they still think this number could hit the $200 million to $300 million mark; if not this year then next year.
Additionally, a poll by the Lloyd D. Levinson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism indicates that over 70% of potential players haven’t created an online account yet, but are planning to do so this year. While this may be people using the “I’m gonna” line, it does demonstrate that the market is far from mature at this time.
Satellites to WPT Championship available at Borgata Poker
We’ve been talking a lot about World Series of poker satellites, but WSOP.com isn’t the only New Jersey online poker room running satellites to major tournaments. Over at BorgataPoker.com you can qualify for the World Poker Tour Championship (being held at the Borgata and not at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for the very first time) taking place this April by playing in the site’s WPT Steps tournaments.
Steps tournaments are precisely what you would envision them to be. Step 1 is a $2 buy-in tournament that will earn you a ticket to a Step 2 tournament, and so on and so forth, until you reach Step 6 (a $2,000 buy-in tournament), which if you win will see you playing in the $15,000 buy-in WPT Championship!
Additionally, you don’t have to win each step along the way to earn a prize, at each step you can still rack-up tickets to the current or previous step(s) even if you don’t win the tournament, so you don’t have to start all the way at the beginning every time you don’t win, you might just fall back a single step.
Additionally, you can buy-in at any step along the way, so depending on what your bankroll looks like you may start at Step 1, or Step 4.
For more information on these qualifiers to the WPT Championship you can visit Borgata Poker.
We thought you should know…
- Stephen “sizzlinbetta” Reynolds has done it again, making back-to-back final tables in the WSOP.com $25k Sunday Guaranteed over the past two weeks. Reynolds has been a poker pro since before Black Friday, and has been absolutely tearing up the NJ online poker tournaments since legalized online poker came to the state. The forthright Reynolds [read this interview I conducted with him] has won the 888 Sunday Guarantee as well as pocketing a $63,000 payday when he emerged victorious in the WSOP.com Online Championship Main Event.
- Still NO-verlays in Ultimate Poker’s $20k Sunday Guaranteed. Despite a guaranteed refund form the site if the tournament met its guarantee, for the second straight week the Sunday $20k Guaranteed at Ultimate Poker came up well short, offering up a $6,000 overlay. Despite not reaching its guarantee the tournament has seen a 25% increase in attendance since NO-verlay was announced.
