Betfair Closes New Jersey Poker Site
Betfair closed its New Jersey poker site on December 1. A Betfair representative confirmed the closure with USPoker this morning. The move does not affect its New Jersey casino site or any of its poker operations outside of the U.S.
The poker index page on Betfair New Jersey’s website has been removed. A cached version of that page in Google refers to a poker install guide, which is also offline. Betfair New Jersey’s poker platform does not display any tables when launched.
Betfair New Jersey posted $0 in October 2014 poker rake, according to tax returns filed with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Its poker tables earned $1 in September. Betfair New Jersey’s poker rake through the first 10 months of 2014 was $50. Betfair Poker raked $90 in the five weeks it operated in 2013.
The Betfair online poker room was considered a non-factor in the New Jersey market, even though it offered a first deposit bonus that was equivalent to 40 percent rakeback. It also offered a VIP program with a top tier of 20 percent rakeback.
Golden Nugget originally announced that it would join Betfair on the network often referred to as Ongame New Jersey. Golden Nugget received full regulatory approval to launch in New Jersey three weeks after its competitors. The company stated in a press release at the time that its online poker room would launch in January 2014. That never happened.
Betfair New Jersey’s casino games have performed significantly better than its poker product. The company reported a win of $855,869 from its online casino games in October. The total casino win through the first 10 months of 2014 was $6,677,288.
Betfair moved its online gaming operation to Golden Nugget’s license on November 21. The two sites hold a combined 25 percent share of the New Jersey online casino market. Betfair temporarily partnered with Caesars Interactive to keep the doors open after its original partner, Trump Plaza, ceased operations in Atlantic City on September 16.
Betfair is the second New Jersey poker site to close. Ultimate Poker and its sister site UCasino left the market in October. Ultimate Poker closed its Nevada site on November 17. Borgata/Party Poker, WSOP.com and 888 continue to operate in the New Jersey online poker market.