It didn’t take long for an Atlantic City Internet poker provider to reclaim the traffic lead in the United States regulated online gambling marketplace. Because of the worldwide popularity of the physical World Series of Poker tournament held in Las Vegas each year, a Sin City online poker provider recently held a substantial virtual player traffic lead over all other New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware websites. Those three states are currently the only to provide legally recognized US-based online gambling options to United States citizens. But as soon as the doors shut on the WSOP series of tournaments in Vegas, the traffic lead that the World Series of Poker enjoyed evaporated in the Nevada desert heat.
Party Borgata showed as the most popular online poker portal in the young online gambling industry in the United States, but that was before tens of thousands of global poker players descended upon Las Vegas. Now that the 45th annual WSOP is over, the Nevada poker site of that same name has handed the traffic title back to the Party Borgata Network in New Jersey. Nevada flirted with 200 cash game players at any given time while the World Series of Poker was being held, and consistently averaged 160 players over any 7 day average during the WSOP festival at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. At the same time, 140 grinders were playing on NJ Party Borgata as a 7 day average.
Atlantic City’s Borgata Internet Poker Room Back to 150 Player 7 Day Average
The Atlantic City, New Jersey boardwalk-based Borgata casino is home to the headquarters of the Party Poker website. According to New Jersey gaming regulations, all Atlantic City online casino and poker offerings must work through physical casino hotels in that state. Like flipping a light switch, the day after WSOP play deceased in Las Vegas, the Party Borgata online poker rooms are back to 150 cash players as a weekly average. Nevada is not far behind, as some hangers-on are probably still in Las Vegas after the big annual poker tournament, and is currently showing 140 cash players for a weekly average. Look for that number to drop slightly over the next few weeks. Nevada was averaging just 110 cash players prior to the arrival of the dozens of tournaments the WSOP tournament schedule delivered.
Those numbers in both states are boosted by the most popular offshore US-friendly site withdrawing from the Nevada and New Jersey marketplaces. However, Bovada is still offering its online poker, casino and race book options to USA residents in most other states. While there are still several high quality offshore options available to NJ players, this move by Bovada basically drives NJ and Nevada poker and casino gamblers to access the fewer state-based options, which will eventually boost traffic to those sites. Currently in Nevada, WSOP (the state cash game traffic leader), Ultimate Poker and Real Gaming are the 3 state-regulated options for Internet poker. Nevada decided not to offer online casino table game gambling and slots, and instead stick to virtual poker only.
While the Nevada version of a WSOP virtual poker parlor was recently the number one competitor for Party Borgata, a similar foe also resides in the Garden State. Now that the World Series of Poker has left Nevada, the Atlantic City-based WSOP.com site is showing 130 ring game players over a 7 day average. That is roughly 13% less than the Bwin.party lead in that state. Consistently showing in 3rd place in New Jersey as far as traffic is concerned is the All American Poker Network. That Atlantic City virtual poker operation consistently delivers 70 players over a 7 day average. Nevada and New Jersey are in continued talks concerning sharing player pools to drive traffic in both states.