No More Overlay Series: BetMGM Scores Big in Latest Online Series in NJ

BetMGM Poker NJ, which operates a shared player pool with skins Borgata Poker NJ and partypoker NJ, crushed guarantees in the most recent running of the Online Series in New Jersey.

After missing the guarantees by a substantial margin last time out, the operator came back with a June series that saw only one event missed. Overall, it boosted overall prize pools more than 50% above guarantees.

The latest series began on June 6 and finished on Sunday, June 13, with a $535 game with $75,000 guaranteed.

There was $280,000 guaranteed this month, reduced from $325,000 for the series in May after that fell more than $55,000 short of expectations.

There was no shortfall this month. In a reversal over the May results, only one event in June missed the guarantee and the total collected over the ten-event series would even have crushed the May’s $325,000 guarantee.

When the dust settled on the June series, BetMGM Poker New Jersey collected almost $450,000 in total prize pools, an increase of almost 60% over the guarantee. With nearly $35,000 in fees collected across the series, the June festival was clearly a success.

NJ June Series Results Summary

Garden State Turnabout

After the disappointing turnout for the May series, BetMGM is no doubt happy with the results of its most recent series offering. Beating the overall guarantee by more than 50% is a great result, but the good news keeps coming after digging deeper into the data.

While only a single tournament in May managed to hit the guarantee, in June, that result was reversed: The bounty event, #6, was the only game that did not make guarantee, but it missed by a fairly large margin, managing to collect less than 50% of the guarantee.

Every other game had solid results. The first event blew past the guarantee, then blew past double to settle in at more than 2.5 times the $50,000 guarantee. Two other events, #2 and #8, also collected more than double their guarantees.

The biggest event also saw a great turnout this month. In May, the final game of the series cost $1,060 to get in and guaranteed $100,000. It fell short of that goal by $34,000. The buy-in and guarantee were rejigged for the June series.

This time around, with a half-price buy-in of $535 and a guarantee of $75,000, the final event collected more than $100,000 in total prizes. That was better than 35% over the guarantee, so the reduced buy-in seems to work.

It is worth noting that the buy-in for the final game in June was reduced by more than the guarantee. In May, the final event guaranteed less than $100 for every dollar of buy-in, while in May, there was $140 guaranteed per dollar of buy-in.

Can BetMGM Replicate the Success in Michigan?

Overall, the June series looks to have been a huge success for BetMGM in New Jersey. It managed to reverse the losing series of May, and post solid results in every event but one in the New Jersey market, but the operator has a similar challenge still to come in Michigan.

The May series in Michigan also failed to hit guarantees, missing by more than $65,000 in total. There is a new series starting in Michigan on June 20, and BetMGM will be hoping to replicate the New Jersey success there.

The resurgence in New Jersey comes as little surprise after the Borgata brands, including BetMGM and partypoker NJ, moved into second place in the market late in 2020. Results in New Jersey have been strong all year, with the exception of the May series, so the June rebound did not come as a huge surprise.

In Michigan however, the picture behind the scenes is not quite so rosy. While the regulator does not split out Michigan online poker revenue from the more general casino revenue, cash game numbers for BetMGM Michigan show a slow start. It broke guarantees in the first series it ran, then missed it by a large amount in the second.

Through that time, the operator continued to post only about one third the cash traffic of their competitor in the market, PokerStars MI. One positive note from Michigan this month is that the most recent Sunday went quite well, with the Sunday $40K collecting more than 50% more than its guarantee.

It remains to be seen if BetMGM can replicate the New Jersey reversal in Michigan. With low cash game traffic and missed guarantees last time out, BetMGM will surely be looking for a better result this time around, but recent Sunday numbers, along with the positive results in New Jersey, should boost confidence for the operator in the upcoming Michigan series.

NJ June Series Detailed Results