Why won't they merge player pools? That's nuts.

Thank the current Department of Justice.

Reply from PokerStars today:

You currently cannot play on PokerStars from PA. We’re working with our partners and the authorities to finalize plans to bring our leading brands to PA’s players asap. There’s a lot to look forward to, so rest assured we’ll be in touch with more details as soon as they’re available.

They hung this date over our heads and then it comes and there was such a lack of information. But the coverage during the lead up made it seem like it was a done deal and all they had to do was flip a switch and we would be playing again. But somehow slots and blackjack got thru is the revenue that much higher on the casino side? I would think the player base is a tenth of poker maybe less. This whole thing really bums me out

There's no data on PA "online" revenue yet, but going by New Jersey online revenue for June 2019, online poker represents a tiny fraction of overall "iGaming" revenue compared to online casino table games/slots.

https://www.playnj.com/new-jersey/revenue/

The article lists the June 2019 New Jersey online "Total Gaming Win" for all NJ online casinos as follows:

Total NJ Online Slots/Casino Games Revenue (June 2019): $36,288,066 (95.35%)
Total NJ Online Poker Revenue (June 2019): $1,770,178 (4.65%)
Total NJ Online Gambling Revenue (June 2019): $38,058,244

Keep in mind that the gross revenue figures are before casinos pay taxes, employees, overhead, and other expenses.

These numbers are for New Jersey "online" gambling since there's no "online" poker data for Pennsylvania yet.
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However, if we look at Pennsylvania "land-based" casino Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) or Gross Terminal Revenue (GTR), and how poker performs compared to slots/casino table games, peer-to-peer (aka "non-banking") massively under-performs there too.

Scroll down to bottom of pages to see Fiscal Year 2018/2019 totals.

https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/fi...FY20182019.pdf

https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/fi...FY20182019.pdf

Pennsylvania "Banking" Casino Table GGR FY 2018/2019: $885.6 million
Pennsylvania "Non-Banking" Poker GGR FY 2018/2019: $54.6 million
Pennsylvania "Slots" GTR FY 2018/2019: $2.38 billion

So basically poker for Pennsylvania "land-based" casinos (at least the 10-out-of-12 PA casinos that offer land-based poker) represents about $54 million out of $3.3 billion annual gaming revenue.

Even if you remove land-based slot terminal revenue, land-based poker still only represents about $54 million out of $940 million total "table games" revenue. Blackjack/baccarat/craps/roulette/etc. (aka "banking" table games) bring in well over 90% of land-based table games revenue in PA.
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I remember looking into this about 18 months ago, subsequent to the Oct 2017 passage of Pennsylvania Act 42 of 2017 which authorized land-based and online casino expansions in the Keystone State.

Here were my concerns with Pennsylvania "land-based" poker room revenues at that time. The figures are broken down by avg. revenue per table and include tax allotments + daily net revenue for poker, casino tables games, and slots for November and December 2017.

https://www.parttimepoker.com/pa-liv...evenue-concern

The "gaming space" effectiveness for land-based poker games in Pennsylvania is also very low compared to slot terminals and traditional casino table games. Look at the "Daily" revenue figured I included in the spreadsheets:

PA land-based poker (Nov/Dec 2017): $600/day per table approx.
PA land-based table games (Nov/Dec 2017) $2,000 daily per table approx.
PA land-based slots (Nov/Dec 2017) $100 daily per terminal approx.

This is because Pennsylvania "table games" are taxed at roughly 16% of GGR while Pennsylvania slots are taxed at roughly 54% GTR. This is for both live games and the upcoming online games.

-David

well those numbers speak for themselves it makes perfect sense why slots and tables are first. I hope the casino transition goes well so we can get going soon

How much revenue from those other games is from poker players degening, though?

Unknown, although that can be tracked via land-based casino loyalty cards or online gameplay tendencies.

The reverse to that question would be, how much revenue from those poker games winds up in the hands of net-withdrawing (aka "winning") peer-to-peer gamblers instead of getting circulated into the much more profitable slots/casino table games?

That's obviously not how poker players like to look at it, but it's the way casinos might look at it when determining how much to invest into certain verticals (whether live or online), how many jobs can be created/maintained, and how efficient they are overall in terms of revenue generation per square foot of brick & mortar "gaming space."

Doesn't matter. We're all slaves to the machine.

PGCB "Cannot predict a timeline" for online poker in Pennsylvania.

https://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-r...-pennsylvania/

Bad beat.

Per Monica Virgilio, Exec AA to Don Ihm, VP and GM of Hollywood at Penn National:

“Good morning REDACTED,

Thank you for reaching out to us via Club Hollywood.

I apologize for the delay in response, but I was waiting to have all the information available in order to reply to your questions.

Hollywood Casino at PNRC will be launching a mobile iGaming application on July 15, 2019. At this time, only an Android app will be available. We are currently working with Apple to get an application approved, but it will not be ready in time for the July 15th launch.

The initial 3 days will be a soft launch with very limited slots and table games available to play. More games will be added as we move through the month of July. Poker will not be initially available on the app. We are hoping to have poker integrated by the end of 2019. Also, sports betting capabilities will not be live until early 2020.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thank you and have a nice day.


Monica Virgilio

Executive Administrative Assistant to
Dan Ihm, VP and General Manager
Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course
777 Hollywood Blvd.
Grantville, PA 17028

The end of 2019?

WTF!!!!

I mean, seriously. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**** Sheldon Adelson. **** the new stupid ****ing wiring act. **** PA and their stupid ****ing administration bull**** that let the wire act even be an issue.

**** THIS

the Pa board guy makes it seem like its the sites that aren't ready to go that they will allow them to open when they submit all the documents they are required. Based on the numbers ITT it would be easy to suffice that especially company's that are going to have casino game and poker would want to concentrate all their efforts on the table games first as they get 90 percent of their revenue from the table games then work the poker stuff out. I just hope that poker stars opens up shop. I'm hoping they are currently going thru the process of getting their stuff together. This is such a bummer

they are prob going full blast getting table games going. I would be willing to bet they dont have one person working on poker atm

This sucks.

I took Monday off! Thought I was going to play the first hand in PA!

Stupid me.

Probably correct. Are supposed to believe that the date snuck up on them, or that it’s so difficult and time consuming to add poker?

That's for Penn national. 100% Stars and WSOP launch before that. The Penn National (Hollywood) room will fail anyway. There is room for 3 primary sites. It will be Stars, WSOP/888, and MGM Borgata (party poker). With MGM Borgata most likley being a late arrival (as they still need approval and are out of state). MGM will be a distant third place.

Its in the sites best interest to launch ASAP. Most likely all of the testing and regulation/ dealing with the state is a slow and tedious process. I would blame the whole thing on the regulators and the bureaucracy. These sites already have software. They just need rubber stamped by some government tard. Another problem is if they are trying to locate all of the servers in state to comply with the new Wire Act interpretation or not.

My o/u for a Stars or WSOP launch is August 5th

sheriffolds, this is the response from PokerStars I got yesterday: You currently cannot play on PokerStars from PA. We’re working with our partners and the authorities to finalize plans to bring our leading brands to PA’s players asap. There’s a lot to look forward to, so rest assured we’ll be in touch with more details as soon as they’re available.

I hope soon is soon like in a few weeks not months. I was creeping on the gaming board twitter account and saw their next meeting is the beginning of September. Please god don’t be then!!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NV + NJ + DE on WSOP.com
https://www.onlinepokerreport.com/multi-state-poker/

The land-based "Category 4" auctions (aka mini/satellite casino -- up to 750 slot terminals & 30 tables) are a carry-over from early last year. The 2017 law authorized up to one brick & mortar "mini" casinos to be strategically located/built/opened at some time in the future for each licensed casino -- once all approvals are received. There are still various licenses up for sale that didn't receive interest from then-eligible PA casinos back in 2018 when the first auctions were held.



They are separate from online poker/iGaming. The first new round auction will take place in conjunction with the September 4th PGCB meeting. There's a PGCB meeting scheduled sooner than that on Wed, August 14th.

https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/?pr=866
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For Pennsylvania online poker players/fans who would like to learn more about PA Category 4 "mini casinos," how they play into the 2017 statewide casino expansion law, and what an actual CAT 4 auction looks like:

* Here are 20 Pennsylvania Category 4 Casino FAQs I wrote back in March 2018 when the first round of auctions was happening. The answers cross-reference a (now-draft) version of Pennsylvania Act 42 of 2017, with specific Page and Line #s to easily find the related text to verify the answers.

* Here is a video of the very first Pennsylvania Category 4 "blind auction" that was held on January 10th, 2018. This is where PGCB Exec. Director Kevin O'Toole and staff:

- reviewed the "blind" auction bids in accordance with PA law
- determined which eligible bidder has offered the highest amount
- announced the auction "winner," the bid amount, the geo-located radius of where the mini casino is planned to be built (begins around 5:37)



I can remember exactly who I was on Skype with and our mutual, immediate reactions when the PGCB Exec. Director announced the amount of that first winning bid... which btw was only to designate/pay for a general location for a future satellite facility. Getting all the permits/residents/civic leaders/emergency personnel on board to build and open these proposed locations is still taking place.

Hollywood Casino's winning bid location is planned for the old Sears store inside York Galleria Mall, which obviously has its own sticking points since that mini casino will be immediately in the vicinity of kids/non-gambling retail shoppers.

https://www.mcall.com/business/mc-bi...qta-story.html

These land-based auctions are separate from what's going on in online poker/iGaming. However, the (already paid) revenue from these provisional licenses brought in well over $100 million in 2018.

September?! Bad beat. I guess I continue playing on ACR until it happens. Oh well.

Nice, more bureaucracy and red tape BS to delay the inevitable. Adelson and his oil friends really love living in the stone ages and contributing to the death of humanity. USA poker will be a $hitshow if each state has there own player pool. Merge the damn player pools. These idiots really think they are going to prevent crime by targeting money laundering through not merging player pools on online poker sites?? Really?

Criminals make money first, worry about laundering it later. Just look at all those raids were these drugs dealers stash tens and hundreds of millions of $$ in their house. Their criminal activity is alive and well. These excuses about 'oh we are stopping crime' are just a load of BS perpetrated by rich casino owners.

Bobby Baldwin is our only hope. He's a lifetime casino executive and high stakes poker player. He needs to get involved to help our cause.

He is literally just making things up. The operators dont have to wait for another meeting they are cleared for launch and have been since July 15th. As soon as they deal with the regulators and get approved they are good to go. How long the process takes and why they arent currently ready is a mystery but they certainly dont have to wait for another meeting.

please read what i said I'm not making anything up. Just scroll up and if you have definitive information on whats happening please by all means feel free to share with the rest of us.