PokerStars Rises to Top of NJ iPoker Market

It didn’t take PokerStars long to regain its foothold in the US poker market, and soon after launching its regulated product in New Jersey last week, the site is already the state’s leading poker room.
In the week prior to its launch, New Jersey’s two online poker operators shared a player pool of 320 cash game players, with Caesars (WSOP.com/888) commanding 200 players, and Borgata (PartyPoker/Pala) 120 players. Exactly one week later, and the market has now increased in size by 20% to 395 players, showing that the Resorts/PokerStars partnership has been instrumental in growing the industry.
In addition, PokerStars has also pulled players away from its two New Jersey rivals, and currently boasts 160 cash game players, making it the state’s leading operator. Meanwhile, Caesars has seen its traffic shrink by 30% to 140 players, and Borgata has experienced a 20% decline to just 95 players.
While Caesars (WSOP.com/888) has suffered a more dramatic fall in traffic than Borgata (PartyPoker/Pala), the former partnership is more likely to weather the storm than the latter. According to industry expert Steve Ruddock, as PokerStars continues to grow, WSOP.com/888 is still likely to maintain more than 100 players, and be seen as a viable alternative platform for PokerStars grinders to visit. On the other hand, PartyPoker/Pala has already seen its traffic dip below the 100 player mark, and in time this unappealing environment will likely see it “fade into irrelevancy”.
On a more optimistic note, while Borgata (PartyPoker/Pala) may continue to see its cash game traffic slide dramatically, much of their revenues is actually derived from tournaments. In fact, they even lead Caesars (WSOP.com/888) in this respect, and so are more likely to stay competitive in this space for some time to come.
In the meantime, New Jersey residents have given the thumbs up to PokerStars’ return, and as professional poker player Geno Raman, explains: “I’m looking forward to the growth of regulated online poker, not only in NJ but across the US. I know this will take some time, but with PokerStars’ entrance back into the US market, it is a sign of good things to come. I will be looking for PokerStars to.. [provide] NJ players with more opportunities, reliability, and security.”