The long awaited and much rumored start of New Jersey sharing online poker players with Nevada and Delaware could begin on May 1.
Two poker brands of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, WSOP.com and 888Poker.com, announced they plan to go live with player sharing as early as May 1 ahead of the World Series of Poker, which begins May 29. The WSOP has announced an extended schedule of online tournaments this year to run concurrent with the live event in Las Vegas including four “online bracelet” tournaments.
Caesars officials said they expect final regulatory approval from all three states and have submitted software for testing in the three jurisdictions. They expect to be able to launch player sharing May 1.
“This has been a huge collaborative effort from all involved and it is important to thank the elected leadership and regulatory authorities in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey for their dedication and diligence to help move online poker forward,” said Bill Rini, WSOP.com’s head of online poker. “Everyone has had the end user in mind throughout this process, and as a result, we believe the United States, for the first time in a regulated environment, will have a large-scale multi-state offering that will propel the industry forward as soon as next month.”
Nevada and Delaware began a poker sharing agreement in 2015. New Jersey announced it had also joined the agreement in October and players have been awaiting the start of player sharing. Online poker requires a large player base—called liquidity—and the combination of New Jersey’s larger market with two smaller markets is seen as likely to re-ignite the online poker industry in all three states.
“This will raise jackpots and provide even greater opportunities for play,” said David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement in a press release. “It also paves the way for additional states to join and grow the regulated, legal online poker market.”
Pennsylvania has also approved online gaming—though play has not started there—and several other U.S. states are considering online gambling legislation.
Nevada Gaming Control Board chairwoman Becky Harris said the agency “is pleased to be part of this collaborative effort between regulators, operators, and the platform manufacturer to achieve the common goal of providing a sound gaming experience for patrons across multiple jurisdictions while still meeting our individual jurisdictional requirements.”
Though the three states will share one network, their different regulatory requirements mean separate software platforms will be needed in each state. A stipulation in New jersey’s online gaming laws also requires that servers for the games be located in the state. Therefore, players in Nevada will actually be logging into hardware located in New Jersey, for example.
Under the agreement, Delaware and Nevada customers of the two companies will have to download new software and create a new account to be able to participate. Existing Delaware and Nevada poker software will cease to operate. New Jersey players with an existing account will not be affected, the companies said in the release.
Also, according to reports, WSOP branded events will not be available through 888 Poker’s websites. This effects Delaware players since the state does not have a licensed WSOP site and its poker offerings are through 888.
Still, 888 Poker does power WSOP.com in both New Jersey and Nevada and is the only poker brand currently operating in all three states.
In New Jersey, online poker has lagged behind online casinos games, which have dominated the about $20-million-a-month market. Online poker revenue has also been low in Delaware, which also offers casino games, and Nevada, which only offers online poker.
