BetMGM and Borgata go live with poker in Pennsylvania
Launch finally gives PokerStars some competition in a state the poker giant has monopolised for the past 18 months
BetMGM and Borgata have unleashed online poker products powered by the partypoker US network in Pennsylvania.
The long-awaited launch of the poker rooms sees player pools shared between both brands while both products offer a wide range of buy-ins and games including fast-fold variant Fast Forward as well as Spins, the lottery-style jackpot format.
BetMGM PA includes iOS and Android apps as well as a desktop client, yet Borgata PA is only available on desktop for now.
New players are eligible for a $25 bonus and a 100% deposit match bonus up to $600. The poker offerings are integrated with MGM Resorts’ M life Rewards programme.
With the brands entering Pennsylvania, it means PokerStars has competition after having had the state all to itself since its arrival in November 2019.
Figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board show PokerStars PA racked up GGR of $2.4m from online poker in March. The total for the whole of 2020 was around $36m.
According to poker traffic tracking site Poker Scout, PokerStars PA has a seven-day average of 300 players at the cash tables, which is level-pegging with PokerStars MI after the Flutter-owned operator entered Michigan in late January.
It is too early at this stage to gauge how BetMGM PA and Borgata PA traffic compares in Pennsylvania, although Poker Scout shows BetMGM MI is currently only achieving a seven-day average of 75 players.
The partypoker US network also powers three poker brands, or skins, in New Jersey – Borgata NJ, BetMGM NJ and partypoker NJ – meaning it is behind a total of six brands and three player pools when including Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, said: “Pennsylvanians can now experience our superior poker offering through both BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker. We’re eager to expand our platform to a larger online audience, and give players in the Keystone State safe, accessible and entertaining poker options.”
With a population of 13 million, Pennsylvania is the largest of the five states so far with regulated poker. By comparison, Michigan’s population is 10 million while New Jersey is home to almost nine million.
Last December, Greenblatt told analysts that he expected poker to have “a period in the sunshine” when discussing the prospect of sharing player liquidity across state lines.
The recent decision by the First Circuit of Appeals that the Wire Act only applies to sports betting and no other forms of interstate gambling was good news for online poker.
The Wire Act was a main reason behind why poker operators, besides PokerStars, had been hesitant to launch in Pennsylvania.
The Department of Justice could appeal the case to the Supreme Court, although this seems unlikely under the Biden Administration and even then there are no guarantees the Supreme Court would hear the case.
It therefore paves the way for states to press ahead with liquidity sharing, which in turn could lead to additional states being more willing to legalise poker if it is not restricted to an unappealing intrastate proposition.
888, which operates the only current interstate poker network in the US and also powers the World Series of Poker site, WSOP.com, alongside 888poker, is expected to launch in Pennsylvania in the coming weeks with its overhauled Poker 8 software.