- Pokerstars-fanduel saw an 80% revenue jump after rebranding and network expansion.
- No account migration; players had to sign up again, but many did so quickly.
- Other operators like WSOP and BetMGM also saw revenue growth despite new competition.
- FanDuel ran major promotions to attract players, including big tournaments and bonuses.
After its first month of operation, PokerStars on FanDuel has become the largest online poker site in New Jersey, according to the latest figures released by the regulator this week.
On the morning of April 1, PokerStars NJ closed its doors. Hours later, it reemerged as PokerStars-FanDuel: New software, a new three-state network, and new co-branding with one of the world’s largest sportsbooks.
And that transformation shows clearly in the numbers. In March, the last month of PokerStars NJ, it sat fourth in the rankings, generating less than $500k in revenue. In April, under FanDuel Poker, it jumped to revenue of almost $770k. It surpassed Borgata, BetMGM, and WSOP to become the largest online poker site in New Jersey.
It marks a major change in the landscape of online poker in NJ. For over a year, WSOP was the clear market leader. BetMGM had held second place since last summer. In March 2026, even Borgata — a secondary skin on the BetMGM network — jumped ahead of PokerStars into third place.
PokerStars’ revenue had been in decline for many years. In 2024, it was the market leader. Then in 2025, BetMGM and WSOP expanded their US online poker networks by connecting Pennsylvania with the New Jersey-Michigan player pool. Meanwhile, PokerStars — which, internally, was working towards the migration to the FanDuel licenses — sat on the sidelines.
As a result, PokerStars gave away a lot of ground to its competitors. Each month, it lost market share and saw its revenue decline.
That decline has now all but reversed in one month. Revenue leapt around 80% from March to April, as players flocked to the site. It’s an impressive achievement, given that there was no account migration: All existing PokerStars NJ players had to withdraw money from their old accounts, sign up to FanDuel Poker, redeposit and download new software.
But clearly, they did so in droves, and it is likely that FanDuel managed to interest a lot of existing sports betting and casino customers to try online poker too. Jumping to the top of the market from what was effectively a cold start is no small feat.
Interestingly, it looks like PokerStars-FanDuel didn’t seem to poach players from other sites. In fact, other operators also gained last month: WSOP NJ was up 3% year-over-year; Borgata was up 1%. BetMGM grew by 33% — which, even for a site that’s been on the up ever since it expanded its US network last year, is very impressive in the face of such stiff new competition.
How the market develops from here will be fascinating to watch. On the one hand, there is good reason to think this might be a short-lived bump for FanDuel Poker. But there’s also an argument to be made that they’re just getting started.
To celebrate the launch, FanDuel started with a huge Sunday Million weekend of two $500k guaranteed tournaments. It then hosted the huge Ignite Series, which resulted in over $1 million being paid out in overlays. All players — including existing FanDuel sports and casino customers, and any former PokerStars player — were eligible for the massive PokerStars US welcome bonus of a $1,000 deposit match. That likely drove a lot of volume to the site as players worked off the bonus.
This summer, attention will shift to WSOP Online as players flock to Las Vegas to play the live series. It is the only site accessible in Nevada and runs online bracelet events over the summer. This will surely attract players.
Looking ahead, there is also still the anticipated launch of BetRivers Poker New Jersey. This was expected in the first months of 2026, but has been delayed for unknown reasons. But when it does launch in the state, it will form the first five-state online poker network in the US.
But there’s also good reason to believe that PokerStars-FanDuel is just getting started. For the first month, the team had to deal with a variety of issues. There were problems with the software platform: Playtech’s iPoker software had never been deployed in North America before, so there were understandably issues. Players also faced geolocation issues, cashier and wallet bugs, and other growing pains.
With much of this in the rearview mirror, we can expect the team to start focusing on the product and growing the player base. We’re already seeing guarantees on the weekly schedule increase as it finds its footing and gains confidence in player turnout. We expect to hear plans of a summer series soon, and before the year is out there could even be expansion into a new US state.
