BetRivers Poker has only been part of the regulated US online poker market for nearly two years, but the operator has already achieved something that took most of its established competitors far longer.
It is now live in four states, making BetRivers Poker only the second US online poker operator with access to four regulated markets, behind WSOP Online. The operator is also still waiting for its New Jersey launch, which would take it into a fifth state.
That expansion has come quickly for a poker room that was effectively starting from scratch. WSOP, PokerStars and BetMGM have had many more years to establish their positions in the US, while BetRivers has taken only a couple of years to build a presence across multiple regulated markets.
But state availability is only part of the story. It has another advantage that is less obvious when looking at where the operators are available: BetRivers owns the technology behind its poker room.
That is an unusual position for a major US online poker operator. PokerStars, WSOP and BetMGM all rely on external poker technology, meaning that some of the most important parts of the player experience are ultimately dependent on companies outside the operator itself.
PokerStars is perhaps the clearest example of how much that has changed. The operator spent years developing and refining its own poker software, but its transition to PokerStars on FanDuel in North America brought a new platform supplied by Playtech. WSOP has used 888’s poker technology since the beginning of its US operation, while BetMGM’s poker room runs on technology from Entain’s PartyPoker.
BetRivers Poker builds on technology originally developed for Run It Once Poker, whose software and team were acquired by Rush Street Interactive, the parent of BetRivers, with the platform subsequently adapted and expanded for the US market. This gives BetRivers direct control over the software that its players use every day.
- The best online poker software in the US with the lowest cash game rake.
- Generous 100% deposit match bonus up to $1000 ($250 in Delaware)
- Four-state network spanning Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware & West Virginia!
- Player-first approach built around user satisfaction, value-driven promotions and meaningful rewards.
Why Software Ownership Counts
The benefit is not necessarily a flashy feature that players can point to in the lobby. It is what happens when something goes wrong, a player asks for a change or the operator wants to make a small improvement to the experience.
The advantage for BetRivers is that it can make decisions about development priorities and respond to problems without depending on an external supplier to implement the changes.
An operator using third-party technology can request changes and improvements, but it has limited control over the development schedule, with bug fixes and feature requests competing against the supplier’s other priorities. BetRivers can handle that process in-house, deciding which issues to address and implementing changes without relying on an external provider.
Moreover, the operator releases software updates every few weeks, allowing it to fix bugs, respond to player feedback and make incremental improvements to its poker platform. That may sound like a relatively minor advantage compared with the features poker operators typically promote, but software is where players spend almost all of their time. A new tournament series can bring players to a site, but it is the day-to-day playing experience that determines whether they want to keep coming back.
The Limits of Third-Party Software
The timing is particularly interesting as several of BetRivers’ larger competitors are dealing with changes to their own poker platforms.
PokerStars on FanDuel has faced criticism from some players over its new software, with the operator continuing to address issues following the transition. WSOP also appears to be preparing to move away from its long-standing 888 platform, while BetMGM Poker continues to use PartyPoker technology. Each operator faces its own challenges, but the comparisons show how much poker software can affect the player experience and how difficult platform changes can be to get right.
In-house development does not guarantee a better poker room, and BetRivers still has to compete on functionality, stability and usability. Players are unlikely to care who owns the underlying technology if the software does not meet their expectations. The advantage for BetRivers is that it can make decisions about development priorities and respond to problems without depending on an external supplier to implement the changes.
That control also provides a useful contrast with some of the other companies that have entered the US online poker market in recent years. DraftKings, for example, initially introduced Electric Poker, a lottery-style sit and go game, rather than a conventional online poker room offering cash games and MTTs.
BetRivers launched with a more complete offering, including cash games, MTTs, conventional sit and gos and its own lottery-style format. The difference is not simply the number of games available, but the extent to which the operator has been able to establish a full-service poker room while developing the technology behind it.
Although it has yet to match the scale of WSOP or PokerStars, its presence in four states remains smaller than that of the largest US operators. Nevertheless, in less than two years, the operator has expanded into four regulated markets, with a New Jersey launch still ahead, and established a poker room that competes across the main online formats.
For an operator seeking to attract players away from established brands, control over its software offers a way to keep developing the product without relying on a third-party provider’s priorities. Whether that becomes a lasting competitive advantage will depend on the quality of the updates and the experience BetRivers delivers, but it has more direct control over that process than most of its US competitors.
