US Regulated Poker: a Two Horse Race US Regulated Poker: a Two Horse Race
Paolo Camera, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License
Key Takeaways
  • The two horse race would end abruptly if PokerStars is granted a New Jersey license.
  • Notably, neither 888 nor bwin.party have the innovation capability of PokerStars. Both were late in launching fast fold poker variants, and neither has a lottery SNG game in its dot-com offering.
  • The recently approved Pala Interactive plans to throw its hat in the New Jersey online poker ring in 2015, providing additional competition.
  • A look back at the cash game traffic over the three US markets during 2014 shows that they have followed similar paths as the segregated markets in Europe.

The end of Ultimate Poker and Betfair’s withdrawal from the New Jersey market have left just two online poker platforms—bwin.party and 888 Holdings.

WSOP Nevada and WSOP New Jersey are both operating on 888 software, which is also the authorized software for the Delaware market. 888’s own branded New Jersey site on the AAPN network fills out the company’s US involvement.