PartyPoker Comes in Early & Strong

Party Poker, in conjunction with the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa are taking the lead in the regulated New Jersey online gambling market. As it stands right now, they currently hold half of the poker market share in the early stages of the state's online gambling revival. This makes them the industry favored. They will be a force to be reckoned with.

There are a lot of factors that contributed to this, PartyPoker and Borgata both benefit from great brand recognition. You may recall that PartyPoker was the top name in American online poker, the TV ads were plentiful but they left the US market when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) came around. Now, Borgata is the top casino and also the top poker room in Atlantic City.

The pair has launched a huge marketing blitz since the launch of online poker in New Jersey. The message is that if you live in or around New Jersey you could become "New Jersey's Next Poker Millionaire." Their campaign has been the most noticed and it offers the better promotions. The promotion that PartyPoker is bragging about will only allow winners to receive a variety of tournament entries.

These entries would include a $100,000 seat in a WPT Alpha8 high-roller event, a seat in the WPT Championship worth $15,000, a year's worth of $10,400 entries into the site's online Sunday $50,000 guaranteed tournament, and about $8,000 in live tournament entries at the Borgata, with the remaining money - over $300,000 - being awarded in cash.

Following, but not too close is the Caesars/888 World Series of Poker-branded site in New Jersey. They have about just over half of the traffic that PartyPoker / Borgata have. Once PokerStars is approved for a license in New Jersey, they'll be offering online gambling in partnership with Resorts Casino Hotel. They need to remember that being first is not always being the best but it does offer a huge edge.