Nevada started with one online poker room in early 2013—Ultimate Poker—and then added WSOP.com. Last month a third room—Real Gaming—went online and it’s probable that three more will go live by the end of the year.
But can Nevada’s player base—even with a player compact with Delaware—really support that many poker rooms?
Chris Grove of Online Poker Report recently broke down what’s coming to Nevada and what the state can actually support.
Three new online poker sites seem ready to launch at some point this year.
888 Poker is a likely first candidate now that Nevada and Delaware have signed an agreement to share player bases. Though the partnership hasn’t started, 888 Poker runs all of Delaware’s various online platforms.
The company’s All American Poker Network had planned to launch an 888 Poker site and a site based on Las Vegas casino Treasure Island, according to the report.
Steve Wynn’s recent reversal on internet gaming—he was quoted as saying he sees no future in it for casinos and Wynn Interactive seems to be backing off its plans for online gaming—may have altered that plan a bit as least as far as a Treasure Island site, but with Delaware hooked up with Nevada 888 Poker will likely move quickly in Nevada, the report said.
Also planning a Nevada launch is the American Casino & Entertainment Properties-backed Ace Play Poker. Ace Play currently operates a free-to-play site that offers a number of promotional tie-ins with ACEP flagship property Stratosphere.
Rumors are that the site could go live by the end of the summer, the report says.
The final player is likely to be bwin.party, in cooperation with its partners Boyd gaming and MGM. The company’s Party Poker, teamed with Boyd’s and MGM’s BorgataPoker.com, have taken the early lead in online gaming in New Jersey—the third state to approve online gaming.
According to Online Poker Report, bwin.party is not finished with the licensing process in Nevada and will probably take the longest to go live.
One thing also seems likely. Six online poker networks aren’t likely to survive with Nevada’s and Delaware’s small player bases.
Even in New Jersey, with a significantly higher population than the two states, it’s unlikely more than three poker sites can survive looking at the early numbers—online gaming went live in New Jersey in November.
More pacts with other states to increase the player base could help, but right now only the three states have online gambling and there is no way to know if and when more states may approve internet gaming, Grove speculates.
In the meantime, it will be a fight for survival in Nevada and that can be seen in a recent poll by website Calvinayre.com asking which Nevada poker site—Wsop.com or Ultimate Poker—will lose market lose players now that South Point Poker has gone live.
Ultimate Poker got 73 percent of the online votes.
