New Jersey Online Gambling Brief February 27, 2014
It appears that New Jersey has finally come to grips with the realities of the potential revenue stream they will receive from their online gambling industry, as the state has revised its initial projections way, way down. Just how far down did they revise the numbers? You’ll find out below.
This story will lead off this installment of the New Jersey Online Gambling Brief, but we’ve got a whole lot more to cover as well, including the massive $100k Guaranteed Sunday tournament taking place at NJ.PartyPoker.com and BorgataPoker.com this weekend; the latest update on the Borgata counterfeit chip scandal that occurred at the recently concluded Borgata Winter Poker Open; and an update on the successes, or lack thereof, for the NO-verlay promotion at Ultimate Poker.
iGaming revenue projections revised
Virtually everyone with any knowledge of the industry found the idea of New Jersey’s online gambling industry pulling in $160 million in revenue for the state (meaning about $1 billion in total revenue) laughable, but that was the original projections by the Christie administration.
However, it now seems saner heads have prevailed, but it did take several months before the Christie administration revised their initial projections down from $160 million to a far more realistic $34 million.
The new projections are more in line with what industry analysts and experts have been saying all along, and should help quell the people calling the industry a disappointment because they are so far off from the original projections.
So far New Jersey’s online poker industry has generated a total of $8.4 million from the November 21st launch date through the end of December, and a further $9.5 million in January.
This downward revision comes amid a $400 million budget shortfall in the State, something that the Governor doesn’t need to deal with on top of BridgeGate considering he has touted his ability to balance the budget since being elected.
Sunday’s Guarantee at Party Poker boosted from $50k to $100k
This Sunday Party Poker NJ and Borgata will be doubling the guarantee for their big Sunday tournament. The buy-in will remain the same ($185+$15) but the guaranteed prize-pool of the tournament will go from an already impressive $50k to $100k.
The $50k Guarantee is already the largest weekly tournament held in New Jersey (offering a guarantee that is double that of the next highest guarantee, WSOP.com’s $25k) but partypoker has shown from the outset that they are willing to continually push the envelope in New Jersey, and so far the site (as well as New Jersey players) has been rewarded for their bold moves.
The current record for number of entrants in the tournament is 378, which was set just two weeks ago, but partypoker will need to pull in over 540 players to meet the $100k guarantee; it will be interesting to see if they can pull it off or of the site has bitten off more than it can chew and will have to eat a hefty overlay.
Either way it will be a win for New Jersey players.
The tournament will be held this coming Sunday, March 2nd, at 5pm with late registration open for an additional three hours, until 8 pm. Qualifiers for the tournament are running virtually around the clock at NJ.PartyPoker.com and at BorgataPoker.com.
We thought you should know…
- A class action lawsuit has been filed in the still unresolved fiasco that plagued Event #1 of the recently concluded Borgata Winter Poker Open tournament series, when Christian Lusardi (allegedly) introduced a number of fake, counterfeit, chips into play. The prize-pool is still being withheld as the investigation continues, which has apparently drawn the ire of at least one player, Jacob Musturel, who filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of his fellow players. So far, Musturel is the only player listed as a plaintiff.
- For players hoping for a NO-verlay refund it was a near-miss for the Sunday $20k Guaranteed this past weekend, as the tournament attracted 190 entrants, just 30 short of making it a NO-verlay tournament, which would have seen every entrant receive their full buy-in back. Ultimate Poker is hoping this coming Sunday will be the week that the $20k Guaranteed becomes a NO-verlay tournament, but it will have stiff competition with partypoker’s $100k guaranteed running at the same time.
