- BetMGM is off to a slow start in Pennsylvania after a much-anticipated launch for the past year or so
- This is the first time PokerStars has had to compete against another poker brand in the Keystone State
- WSOP is now rumored to be launching in both Pennsylvania and Michigan before the year is out
With the online poker climate in the United States getting more competitive, WSOP is planning an entry in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
BetMGM Gets Off to a Slow Start in PA
PokerStars’ monopoly over the Pennsylvanian poker market has finally come to an end with BetMGM Poker PA and Borgata Poker PA officially launching in the state on April 29 and bringing much-anticipated. Yet, things are looking modest for want of a better word.
According to the analytics website Pokerfuse, the average cash game traffic reached 30 players. To put this in context, PokerStars PA is averaging from 350 to 400 players on its cash games, but then again, the company has had a lot of time to set up its network, advertise, and essentially become the go-to platform.
Entain and MGM Resorts International’s card room, operated through a joint venture, Roar Digital, is only now getting started. Then again, there has been an overall dip in the 30-day average for PokerStars, too, Pokerfuse elaborated, arguing that data showed anything between 330 and 365 players on average during the tracked period.
All of these numbers are still too early to paint a complete picture of what BetMGM’s staying power in the market is. Then again, Pokerfuse argued that the average players on May 9 were just 27 concurrent players compared to 338 for PokerStars. However, BetMGM is determined to launch various promotions and tournaments that will draw more attention to its platform, starting this weekend.
Things Are Looking up in Michigan
While Pennsylvania has proven a challenging market, Michigan has been able to excite slightly better interest in terms of concurrent players. The newly-fledged online poker market in the Wolverine State launched with a roll-out by PokerStars MI followed by BetMGM MI.
Numbers in the state continued to climb and hit an all-time of around 75 concurrent players by mid-April. Michigan has indeed proven a better pick, even though Pennsylvania is a much more populous option. However, the Keystone State is already dominated, in part, by PokerStars PA, which means that consumers will take some figuring out before they start transitioning or even trying BetMGM’s product.
Michigan’s open week was carried on by various events, including the PokerStars inaugural MICOOP event series, which stoked interest in the market and duly so.
WSOP Is Next to Hit the Poker Market
With PokerStars, BetMGM, and Borgata already taking their due place in the Keystone State online poker market, there are still more companies to enter, and one such is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) through its dedicated namesake platform in partnership with 888poker.
During an earnings call, 888 CEO Itai Pazner confirmed that the company would seek to bring the 888poker platform online in several states, and specifically Pennsylvania and Michigan. This means that before the year is out, Pennsylvania ought to welcome another platform adding to the plurality to the offer and hopefully leading to much better liquidity for the state.
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