BetMGM has debuted its first poker tournament of 2022 dubbed Double Trouble. Its first tournament of the year took off on Friday 21st January and will continue until its conclusion on January 30th. The series will involve a total of 20 events and 2 versions of every match, bringing the total number of matches in each state to 40.
The poker festival has been designed to appeal to both high roller and low roller participants, which means that it will suit players with all sorts of budgets. Out of the 40 games scheduled, 24 have a $50 or less buy-in with the rest boasting higher buy-ins- sometimes as high as $535. Some of the games on offer will include No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha, with all the matches offering unlimited rebuys.
BetMGM will offer the tournament to punters in 3 states namely New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The schedule will vary slightly in the 3 states and so will the guarantee. For instance, New Jersey Punters will enjoy the biggest prize guarantee standing at $364,000 spread out across all the matches. Pennsylvanian poker winners will get a chance to split a share of the $324,000 while Michigan’s punters will split a slightly higher guaranteed prize of $334,000.
New Jersey will have the highest guaranteed prize of $364,000 not only because it is a more mature market but also more successful than the other 2. There will be numerous events for participants to look forward to. However, one of the biggest highlights will be the $109 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments that offer a $10,000 guarantee for players in each state.
Event #9, featuring the No-Limit Hold’em in each format, will have the largest buy-in of $535 and a prize guarantee of $15,000 in the 3 states. It should be worth noting that the schedule does not have a Main Event on the schedule. However, participants and punters alike will be looking forward to the second last match, scheduled for 30th January.
This will be a $215 tournament boasting an impressive $30k prize pool in New Jersey and a $25,000 guaranteed prize pool in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. Double Trouble is the first event this year but the 4th online poker series that the BetMGM brand has hosted in the past few months.
The End Boss Poker Series was held in November in New Jersey with a $215 buy-in Event #7: $25K GTD Second Chance 8-Max. Event #7 surpassed its guarantee attracting a total of 170 participants, which thus created a prize pool of $34,000. The Main Event managed to generate a prize pool of more than $42k in New Jersey. The series also ran in Pennsylvania, as well as Michigan.
In December around the Christmas period, BetMGM also hosted the Cheap Stakes online poker series, which was created for low roller players. Shortly after this series, BetMGM also debuted the New Year Knockout miniseries that marked the conclusion of the online poker period in 2021.
BetMGM has been making good on its promise to dominate the online poker market in the country. For years, PokerStars has controlled the market but BetMGM is looking to challenge the brand, a task in which it is succeeding. Since 2020, BetMGM has been offering high-value poker games to punters, which has so far proved to be an excellent customer acquisition strategy.
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BetMGM dominates the New Jersey poker market
BetMGM experienced a stellar year in 2021 in the country’s most successful online poker market, New Jersey. In 2020, BetMGM alongside its fellow Borgata license holders namely Borgata NJ, PartyPoker NJ, and BetMGM NJ were trailing the revenue table at a distant third place.
BetMGM experienced a spike in poker player registrations at the beginning of lockdown. However, its rivals, WSOP and PokerStars seemed to enjoy a lot newer customers, which left BetMGM playing catch up. Fortunately, BetMGM Poker has grown by leaps and bounds and has managed to emerge as a leader in the New Jersey market in just one year.
Between August and November 2020, BetMGM spent 3 months battling it out for first place with its biggest rival Poker Stars. A remarkable December 2020 saw BetMGM finally beat PokerStars for first place at the top of the New Jersey revenue table, a trend that it has managed to maintain throughout 2021.
In 2021, BetMGM and WSOP would compete closely for first and second place. In March, PartyPoker US Network series managed the impossible by doubling its overall guarantee. The Main Event alone generated an extraordinary $464,000, which is by far one of the largest figures that a single tournament in New Jersey has ever generated.
The following months in New Jersey remained largely the same. However, WSOP swooped in for the lead in July owing to its popular online bracelet series. However, for the first time since April 2016, BetMGM and its sister sites finally beat WSOP for the top spot in the revenue table. The Borgata license has always conventionally been the smallest of the 3 in the state, which is why BetMGM’s ascent to the top has been so impressive.
As such, in just under a year, BetMGM went from last place in New Jersey to market leader. To have accomplished such a remarkable achievement is certainly no small feat. But it’s one thing to attain the top spot- maintaining it with rivals such as WSOP and PokerStars lurking is another. BetMGM Poker managed to hold on to its first place for an additional 2 months before WSOP reclaimed its spot.
The future looks bright for BetMGM
This year, BetMGM predicts that it will surpass the $1.3 billion mark and that the majority of its revenue will be acquired from New Jersey. BetMGM is already slated to debut new sportsbooks in several states during the first 3 months of 2022. These states include Louisiana and Illinois, which legalized their markets last year.
In the coming months, BetMGM Poker will likely organize more high-level tournaments in an effort to attract even more punters. If it continues to throw such great tournaments, it will surely create a dent in the competitive market.
