New Jersey Online Gambling Brief November 27, 2013
The official launch of New Jersey online gambling is now upon us, and after a week I am happy to report “so far so good,” with all but one of the site’s that participated in the soft launch were able to secure full approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
In this week’s edition of the New Jersey Online Gambling Brief, we’ll take a look at the early traffic numbers in NJ; the first online tournament series available to NJ poker players; the first million-dollar online promotion in the state; and much, much more.
WSOP.com announces New Jersey Online Championships Tournament Series
Caesars Entertainment’s WSOP.com website wasted little time in announcing their plans for an online tournament series, detailing the nine event New Jersey Online Championships Tournament Series, with its $1 million in guaranteed prize-money on their WSOP.com website before the soft launch period came to a close.
The NJOCTS will start and end with a $250,000 freeroll tournament, with seven tournaments, and a further $500,000 in guaranteed prize-money sandwiched in between.
Access to the freeroll tournaments is limited but simple enough to obtain. For the first freeroll (held on January 19th), players will simply need to register a WSOP.com account between now and December 9th. If you miss this first deadline you can still gain entry to the freeroll by depositing $10 or more at WSOP.com from December 10th to January 16th.
The second freeroll will take place on February 2nd, and is open to any player who participates in any of the first eight NJOCTS events, including the January 19th freeroll.
More information on the tournament series is available at WSOP.com.
Party Poker tops first NJ traffic reports: WSOP.com a close second
The early traffic numbers are in at pokerscout.com and Party Poker (made up of BorgataPoker.com and NJ.PartyPoker.com) is leading the way, with the Caesars/888 website WSOP.com in a close second.
According to pokerscout.com’s numbers, the four online poker providers in NJ (Party Poker, WSOP.com, the All American Poker Network, and Ultimate Poker) have an average player pool of about 150 real-money cash-game players online throughout the day. In the first couple days of the full launch peak traffic numbers have reached as high as 375 real-money cash-game players.
This is an extremely good sign, considering the industry is only days old, and New Jersey is quite likely to pass Nevada’s numbers by next week.
NJ.PartyPoker.com is giving away $1 million
WSOP.com may have been the first New Jersey online poker site to offer a $1 million online tournament series, but it is Party Poker that announced the first $1 million promotion in the state.
NJ.PartyPoker.com is running a promotion called New Jersey’s Next Poker Millionaire that will see eight online qualifiers play a single table tournament at the Borgata in February of 2014 with the winner receiving a $1 million prize-package made up of cash and prizes.
To find out how you can qualify for this exciting promotion you can visit the NJ.PartyPoker.com website.
6 operators approved for full launch; Golden Nugget still on limited license
* The Borgata
* Bally’s Atlantic City
* Caesars Atlantic City
* The Tropicana
* The Trump Plaza
* The Trump Taj Mahal
That is the list of the online gaming providers in New Jersey that met the NJ DGE’s requirements during the five-day soft launch period and all six are now fully licensed and open for business in New Jersey.
A seventh operator, The Golden Nugget was unable to meet the DGE’s requirements and is still operating on a limited basis in New Jersey until it can iron out its issues.
Here is a comprehensive list of the approved license holders in New Jersey: NJ Online Gambling License List
