Lots of people around the world have experienced great success playing real money card games over the internet. Online poker players rake in colossal tournament prizes every week, and online casino jackpots are struck on a pretty regular basis. But narrow the playing field to New Jersey, where a legally regulated iGaming market has only been established for about 15 months, and enormous prizes don’t make the headlines nearly so often.

Now, the Garden State is abuzz with the news that one of their own—an online gambler from Union County—has struck it rich. The lucky player, who has chosen to maintain his anonymity, was playing a popular game known as Let It Ride at BetfairCasino.com when a monumental payout of $1.5 million occurred.

It was February 14^th, Valentine’s Day, when the online gambler from Union County made three huge bets that will change his life forever. Let It Ride is like an online poker game, but the player is not competing against any other players. Instead, their goal is to try and achieve the best possible 5-card poker hand. The higher the hand ranks, the higher the payout grows.

Let It Ride consists of three betting rounds. The player makes an initial bet before receiving the first 3 cards. There are then two more betting rounds, one prior to being dealt each of the last two cards. There’s also an optional side bet called 3-Card Bonus that can be placed before the hand starts.

According to Betfair Casino, the lucky New Jersey man bet $500 on each betting round, and another $500 on the side bet. By the time all the cards fell, he found himself holding the most improbable poker hand of all – the Royal Flush – which pays 1000-to-1 on each of the hand’s bets, plus 40-to-1 on side bets.

Get your calculators out ladies and gentlemen and you’ll find that the grand total for all those perfectly timed bets is a whopping $1,522,000.

Online Gambler “Shocked” by Royal Flush Win

When asked about how the life-altering win came about, the online gambler responded. “I first heard of BetfairCasino.com on a television commercial where they were offering a generous bonus for first time sign ups.” He then told the events of that fateful evening.

“I was playing one night for about two hours . . . and I was ready to end my night of play and I was dealt Queen, Jack, and 10 of Diamonds. Great! I have a mini straight flush! To my amazement I was dealt the King and Ace of Diamonds! A Royal Flush! Really! I was in total shock! Not my first royal either and yes, still in shock! Then I realized it was a $1,522,000 payout! NOW I WAS IN SHOCK! I thought it was a dream!” he exclaimed. “This is why I love playing and will only be playing on BetfairCasino.com because the site lets you play and in turn gives you a fair chance to win!”

“It’s always exciting when a player hits a big win,” expressed Don Ryan, the General Manager for BetfairCasino.com in New Jersey. “We’re thrilled to be a part of U.S. online gaming history and to be able to provide generous bonuses, high payouts, and a secure and fair online gaming experience to our BetfairCasino.com players in New Jersey for years to come.”

Prior to that massive 7-figure win, the largest single payout to any New Jersey online gambler was $1,334,641.22. That enormous prize was delivered to Cathy Ruela of Morris Plains, NJ while she was playing the Millionaire Genie progressive slot at HarrahsCasino.com on November 6, 2014.

New Jersey’s online gambling market has been active for 15 months now, and after consistent reports of sluggish growth, it seems the industry’s revenue generation is finally staying on a northbound track. For the second month in a row, the interactive gaming win is up, including a substantial boost in online poker revenue.

For the month of January 2015, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reported a total internet gaming win of $11,567,337. That figure translates to an 8% increase, up from $10,736,118 in December’s report. Of that, $9,267,911 came from the state’s online casino operators, while the other $2,299,426 was derived from peer-to-peer gaming (i.e. online poker operations).

Clearly, casino style gambling is more popular – and more profitable – than online poker games, but this month’s unwritten award for rate of growth goes to the latter. Internet casino win rose 6.38%, while online poker revenue grew 10.45% month over month.

Party Borgata Network leads in Online Poker Revenue

There are currently four online poker operators pilfering their virtual wares in New Jersey – Party Poker NJ, Borgata Poker, 888Poker and WSOP NJ. Party Poker and Borgata Poker are licensed to the Borgata Atlantic City, sharing their player bases on the aptly named Party Borgata Network. 888Poker and WSOP.com, although both licensed under Caesars Interactive and using the same 888-branded software, didn’t not begin sharing their player bases until last month.

With that in mind, only Borgata (Party/Borgata Poker) and Caesars (WSOP/888 Poker) are reporting online poker revenue. In that regard, Party Borgata still maintains a solid lead, representing $1,283,746 (55.83%) of the total peer-to-peer yield for January. WSOP/888 are slowly catching up though with a total of $1,015,680 on the month (up from $949,432 in December 2014).

WSOP NJ / 888Poker lead New Jersey in Cash Game Traffic

In terms of cash game traffic, however, WSOP.com and 888Poker are now cornering the New Jersey market. After partially combining their player bases in mid-January, the Caesar-licensed operators finally edged out the Party Borgata Network as the most popular poker site in New Jersey. According to PokerScout, Party Borgata currently averages 150 cash game players, while WSOP/888 have climbed to 220 players on a 7-day average.

Helping to keep Party Borgata on top in the online poker revenue counts was last month’s second running of the Garden State Super Series (GSSS II). The online poker series ran from January 11^th through the 25^th of the month, drawing in a plethora of players to participate in the 69-event, $1 million guaranteed series.

Remarkably, WSOP.com and 888Poker held no events of that caliber last month, yet still managed to see a small increase in online poker revenue. As such, it will be interesting to see just how well Party Poker NJ and Borgata Poker perform in February compared to WSOP and 888Poker when no major online poker events are on the table.

The biggest guaranteed events for New Jersey online poker players in February are the Sunday Majors. Again, Party Borgata has the better offering with a $100k GTD at 5:00pm every Sunday, but WSOP and 888 are working their way up, having increased the Big Sunday from $35k to $50k for last weekend’s Feb 15^th rendition. Whether the prize will remain the same this coming Sunday is yet to be seen.

As long as California lawmakers have been debating the issue of online poker regulation, there have been those who opposed the entry of any operator who ignored the UIGEA of 2006. For the past few years, ‘bad actor clauses’ have been aimed at keeping illegal operators out of California—if and when a bill actually passes, that is—but now it seems like more and more vested interests are swaying their favor in the direction of PokerStars.

Every bad actor clause to date has been (theoretically) aimed at preventing PokerStars from participating in a California online poker market. The company was portrayed in many lights, from duplicitous for its acceptance of Californians after 2006, to a threatening entity far too difficult to compete with.

Now some groups are changing their opinions of the world’s largest online poker room. The latest confirmation of compromise came from Jan Jones Blackhurst, the Executive VP of Communications and Government Relations for Caesars Entertainment. Chris Krafcik of GamblingCompliance confirmed the company’s opinion yesterday on Twitter:

Caesars’ Jan Jones Blackhurst told me the company believes Amaya Gaming Group-PokerStars “should be considered for legalization in the U.S.”

— Chris Krafcik (@CKrafcik) February 13, 2015

Interestingly enough, the announcement from Caesars comes on the heels of the casino company’s California partner, the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, who made a similar declaration just days prior. The Rincon were previously sided with Pechanga and its allies, who were adamant that UIGEA-breachers like PokerStars, as well as pari-mutuel racing tracks, should not be permitted to hold an online poker license.

On Tuesday, three of those tribes shifted their focus when the heads of the Rincon, Pala and United Auburn Indian Community each signed a letter addressed to the authors of California’s two online poker bills, Assemblymen Mike Gatto (AB 9) and Reggie Jones-Sawyer (AB 2291).

In the letter from the California tribes, it was suggested that lawmakers take “an approach that looks specifically at personal participation in unauthorized gaming.” While they still believe companies that willfully defied the UIGEA, and continue to be headed by the same individuals, should be excluded, the letter advised: “If a company that engaged in unauthorized gaming changed ownership, regulators would be able to review the effect of that change in ownership under the bill’s standards.”

Where they have yet to compromise, however, is the matter of whether assets belonging to a company under new ownership should be permissible. To that end, PokerStars may be able to enter a California online poker market, but whether they should be allowed to use the original PokerStars software is another matter.

“While we have not yet identified a possible consensus position,” said the tribes, “we encourage continued conversation on this important issue to identify an approach based on considerations of fairness, regulatory integrity, and legal requirements at issue.”

The letter appears to reflect the results of a tribal gaming meeting that took place in California this week, where the subject of online poker regulation was highlighted. All tribes agreed that compromise is the key to getting online poker legalized in the Golden State. It certainly seems that some tribes are working diligently toward that end, and in doing so, the Rincon have harvested the support of their gaming partner, Caesars Entertainment.

Acquisitions and mergers have been the name of the game across the global online gambling industry for the last few years. Last year, Amaya Gaming spent $4.9 billion to take over PokerStars parent company, Rational Group. For $6.4 billion, International Games Technology is about to merge with GTECH SpA. Now it appears that online gambling giant 888 Holdings is entertaining a takeover bid by the UK’s largest bookmaker, William Hill.

The story first broke this morning when The Times reported that William Hill is in “advanced talks” with 888 over a bid to acquire the Gibraltar-based online gambling firm. The report indicated that Will Hill was offering 210 pence per share, amounting to approximately £750 million (USD $1.14 billion).

After the report was published, 888 Holdings released a statement confirming talks with the UK-based bookmaker. “The board of the company confirms that it received an approach regarding a possible offer for the company by William Hill,” read the statement from 888. “There can be no certainty, however, that any firm offer will be made.”

If Will Hill were to take over 888 Holdings, it would give the company a leg in the US online gaming market as well. 888 is already licensed to operate online poker rooms in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, with online casino operations in the latter two states.

Immediately following the announcement, shares in 888 Holdings began to skyrocket. The stock price had jumped to 175.00 pence by 3:00pm GMT, closing at 171.50 for an overall jump of +18.28% by end of trading day. In contrast, shares in William Hill fell -3.13%, closing at 377.40.

According to industry analysts, striking a deal between the two live and online gambling companies will be easier said than down. It’s been speculated that the founders of 888, believed to be the Israeli Shaked family, want the bid increased to as high as 300p/share (£1.07 billion; or USD $1.64 billion). That rumor seems to stem from previous takeover talks in 2011 between 888 and Ladbrokes that fell through when the two couldn’t agree on a mutually affable purchase price.

Karl Burns of Panmure Gordon said the 210p/share bid was already a bit on the pricey side, and that he does not expect Will Hill to increase its offer. “I think there is a good chance that the deal may not go through,” said Burns, adding that it could “stretch [William Hill’s] balance sheet to a degree that they may have to raise capital as well.”

While acquisitions have become a lot more commonplace in the live and online gambling industry since 2010, they have clearly escalated more so over the last year. One dominant factor attributing to online gambling buyouts is the increased regulation and taxation of the industry throughout certain regions.

The UK in particular has become an expensive region for online poker, casino and sports betting operators. A new regulatory framework came into force late last year – one that William Hill was prepared to fight when it was first proposed in 2012 – in which tax havens like 888’s home base in Gibraltar are no longer cost-efficient for operators who accept UK players. Those operators must obtain a UK license and pay a 15% POC tax, greatly increasing their bottom line.

Nevada was the first state to launch a regulated internet gaming market in the United States, but the last of three (including Delaware and New Jersey) to issue public online poke revenue reports for the industry. Now, after nearly one year of unrestricted revenue data logs, the Silver State is once again not required to make its online poker earnings public knowledge.

According to the guidelines set forth by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) when drafting iGaming regulations, the state is only required to issue reports detailing online poker revenue generation if there are three or more active operators. When Ultimate Poker closed its virtual doors late last year, it left only two operators, thus no obligation to publish the information.

Ultimate Poker made history when the operator launched the very first US regulated online poker site on April 30, 2013. For months, UP remained the only active operator in the state, or the nation for that matter. Then on September 19 of that same year, WSOP.com joined the limited ranks of Nevada’s online poker market. But still, the number of operators was below the required amount to issue public revenue reports.

It wasn’t until South Point became the third operator in Nevada with the launch of Real Gaming in February of 2014 that the state finally released its first online poker revenue report. Due to the nature of those reports, which include 1-month, 3-month and 12-month summaries, the complete yield for 2013 was also revealed, amounting to $8.524 million since the initial launch of UP.

Some had hoped that the NGCB would retract the former reporting rule requirement when the number of operators fell back to two, but obviously that’s not the case. Therefore, until a third operator joins the ranks, concerned market analysts and media outlets will be forced to estimate the monthly yield for December 2014, January 2015 and however many months transpire before publications resume.

Estimated Timeline for launch of 3^rd Online Poker Operator in Nevada

There are three possible candidates to shoulder the responsibility of becoming Nevada’s next 3^rd online poker operator, thus becoming the catalyst for the state’s resumption of online poker revenue reports. Which of those three will hit the market first is hard to say, but it is expected to happen in 2015.

The All American Poker Network (AAPN), on which WSOP.com is currently hosted, is projected to integrate two new sites in the coming year. One is expected to be launched by Treasure Island, and the other 888Poker, proprietor of AAPN. The significance of either of these sites launching would be the resulting shared player pool with WSOP.com, which already leads the Nevada online poker market by leaps and bounds.

The other possibility is HDPoker.com, powered by a new, Nevada-based software company known as Z4Poker. The developer has already been licensed by the NGCB, but has yet to partner with any land-based operator, as is required by regulatory guidelines to offer real money poker games over the internet.

Rumor has it that Z4Poker has a relationship with the Siena Hotel & Casino in Reno, NV, but no partnership deal has been confirmed. In 2014, it was reported that HDPoker anticipated its launch before end of year, with a mobile poker app to be added in Q1 2015, but the website indicates the software remains in Beta Testing mode.

In 1992, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) went into effecting, prohibiting sports betting on a federal level in all but 4 US states. Like several high-ranking politicians before him, Senator John McCain is speaking out against PASPA, saying states should have the right to regulate sports betting. His argument is geared mostly towards the lack of taxation on a multi-billion dollar industry.

As McCain was eager to point out in an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz and ABC’s Rick Klein, the hosts of ESPNRadio’s ‘Capital Games’, there are untold billions being spent on sports betting every year, and only an estimated 3% of those wagers are the legal variety. That means the other 97% are occurring underground, therefore failing to generate tax dollars for the government.

Contending that the regulation of sports betting should be up to individual states is a relevant argument. Other forms of gambling, such as casino games and poker, are regulated on a state by state basis. Why shouldn’t the same go for sports betting? But that argument has led to a dead end time and again. Pointing out all those zeroes at the end of a multi-billion dollar industry that the government is not generating taxation from, on the other hand, could have a lot more sway in the eyes of US administrators.

“We need a debate in Congress,” McCain told Katz and Klein. “We need to have a talk with the American people, and we need to probably have hearings in Congress on the whole issue so we can build consensus.”

At present, only four states are capable of offering sports betting, but only one of them—Nevada—provides a full-scale sports betting market. McCain was asked why Nevada should be the only state with a regulated sports betting industry, to which he responded, “I think you’ve got an excellent point, and that’s why it’s an excellent issue.”

Last week, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released its latest revenue report, indicating that the sports betting industry took in $3.9 billion in sports wagers in 2014. According to industry analysts, the actual amount wagered – legally and otherwise – is somewhere between $138.9 billion (per AGA’s 2013 estimate) and $400 billion annually.

“I think that there [are] places for sports gambling in states, where gambling is legal,” said McCain. By that, McCain asserts that states like New Jersey should have the opportunity to allow sports betting in casinos across Atlantic City, where gambling is a vast, legitimate business.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent two years lobbying for the right to legalize sports betting in Atlantic City casinos, to no avail. More recently, New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo introduced a bill to modify PASPA, called the Sports Gaming Opportunity Act of 2015, but after initially harvesting 4 cosponsors, three of them have withdrawn, leaving no realistic hope of gaining traction.

The largest problem supporters of state’s rights to regulate sports betting have to face is overcoming the opposition of PASPA’s original backers—the  amateur and professional sporting leagues that pushed for federal criminalization in the first place—the NCAA, MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL. It was these organizations that filed the lawsuit that halted New Jersey’s attempt to legalize sports betting last year.

On the plus side, one such organization could join Gov. Christie and Sen. McCain in their advocacy of sports betting. Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times last November saying essentially the same thing McCain told ESPNRadio yesterday, addressing the need to “legalize and regulate sports betting”.

Silver determined that, “sports betting should be brought out of the underground and into the sunlight where it can be appropriately monitored and regulated.”

Virginia has some pretty strange laws. For example, it is illegal to tickle a woman, drive a motor vehicle without shoes, or have sex with the lights on. It is perfectly permissible, however, to marry your cousin, or for candidates to practice corrupt bribery tactics. Most of Virginia’s ridiculous laws are not enforced, but if you happen to arrange a game of poker where dealers are paid for their services out of the pot, expect the SWAT Team to come barreling through your doors with rifles loaded.

That’s exactly what happened at a quiet home in the Great Falls area of Fairfax County last November. There were 10 gentlemen, all respected members of their community, seated around a friendly poker table in the basement of an affluent home, enjoying a friendly, albeit high-stakes, game of poker. The next thing they knew, a group of fully armed SWAT Team agents came bursting through the door, pointing rifles at the players and demanding cooperation.

Frightened beyond belief, each of the men was quick to comply, raising their hands and remaining quietly in their seats as police seized $150,000 from the host. Afterwards, 8 of the 10 men were charged with illegal gambling, a Class 3 Misdemeanor in Virginia that carries a maximum penalty of up to $500 in fines.

It certainly wasn’t your run-of-the-mill home poker game. The minimum buy-in for those present was $20,000, with an option to re-buy if one’s chips were depleted. Comparatively speaking, that’s twice the entry fee for the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.

The identities of the men arrested that night have not been revealed to protect their families and reputation, but two of the players, as well as the host, are said to be professional poker players. The host confessed that he did skim 1.5% of the buy-ins, but that it was not intended as a profit, but rather payment for the employment of two dealers and two assistants, whose responsibilities were to serve coffee and massage the shoulders of tense players.

But Fairfax County police didn’t see it that way. According to Virginia law, “taking a cut” turns a friendly home poker game into an illegal gambling enterprise. That, and a supposed search warrant, gave the SWAT Team the authority to raid the home.

Interestingly enough, the search warrant remains unsealed, and the host, who by all legal accounts should have been the primary suspect, was not charged in the case.

One of the players at the table gave his account of the raid to the Washington Post, but asked not to be named. He said that he looked out the window of the basement’s French doors and, “saw these helmets bobbing up and down”. The dark figures, barely visible in the cover of dark, shouted that they were Fairfax County police, and had a search warrant. At that point, the player said about eight SWAT Team officers entered the home. “They were all yelling, ‘Does anybody have a weapon?’ and ‘please don’t move’. One pointed his assault rifle at me and said, ‘Hands up,’” recounted the player, who said he couldn’t believe what was happening.

He went on to explain that there were no guns or weapons at the table, and none of the players resisted. “They could’ve sent a retired detective with a clipboard and gotten the same result.”

The Fairfax police have come under fire for their radical enforcement of illegal gambling over the years. In 2006, they sent the SWAT Team to arrest a single individual, Dr. Salvitore J. Culosi Jr., for sports betting. The optometrist was accidentally shot and killed during the raid by Officer Deval Bullock. In an official statement to the community, Fairfax County did not apologize for the “unintentional” death of Dr. Culosi Jr., blaming the incident on an “involuntary muscle contraction” experienced by the officer.

Then in 2010, it was revealed that the police department had wagered, and lost, more than $300,000 on sports bets as part of a sting operation meant to take down a Las Vegas bookie and his Virginia-based operators.

According to one of the players, the police justified their use of extreme force against the Great Falls poker game by claiming that, “Asian gangs” have been “targeting these games”. His desired reply was, “So you robbed us first?”, but he thought better of it.

In the end, the best way to protect the citizens of Virginia from these gang-related robberies (and over-zealous police departments) is to legalize the game under regulated circumstances. The state classifies poker, along with casino-style gambling, as a “game of chance”. The desire to keep casinos outside the state’s border is all well and good, but if poker were deemed a game of skill, and licensed, regulated card rooms opened, the state would still make money (via taxation, rather than seizure), and poker players would have a safe place to enjoy their pastime in a 100% legal capacity.

Are There Any Legit Poker Sites Left In The USA?

Online poker is one of the fastest growing online games in the world. The most popular poker game is Texas Hold’em, an action-packed, fast-paced poker game that sees the most action at online poker sites, as well as in the World Series of Poker. Since the onset of online poker, there have always been questions of ethicality and cheating. While this has caused many players to avoid online poker, this has been offset by the astronomical number of players that online poker has managed to attract. By offering the lure of quick money to millions of people in numerous countries all over the world, online poker has exploded into a worldwide industry. But with this explosion came many sites that look to exploit and manipulate software in order to rig the online poker games.

It’s not like cheating at poker is a new occurrence, cheating has been going on as long as the game has been around. From hands played in back-alley bar rooms to the World Series of Poker players, cheating has been an integral part of the world’s most popular card game since its inception.

With the advent of online poker, cheating is a much simpler task of simply changing or adding software code. With a few lines of code added to the system, specific cards can be dealt, hidden, or played. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most common methods that poker sites and poker players use to cheat in order to make money.

How poker sites cheat

There are numerous ways that online poker sites cheat or allow cheating to occur. All online poker sites use a random number generator to determine which cards will be dealt and played. However, some sites have implemented software that allows specific players to see other players’ hole cards. This type of cheating was discovered on several online gambling sites including Absolute Poker and UltimateBet.

Some sites have been caught using a shuffling and dealing algorithm that prevented specific cards from being played, while allowing others. The first online poker site, PlanetPoker, was exposed as using this type of cheat.

Malicious hackers sometimes infiltrate online poker sites, and implement harmful code into the system. This allows them to cheat other players, and win big. If the cheating is discovered, the site takes the responsibility and sometimes the blame.

Software vulnerabilities are another form of cheating, and it can be the most dangerous kind, as it can go undetected by both the site and players. However, if a skilled player notices the flaw, and is able to exploit it, he can have a real advantage over other players that don’t know the exploit exists. Since the site is unaware of the exploit, this type of cheating can go on for long lengths of time. This is why it is critical for online poker sites to employ the services of a reputable security company to perform vulnerability scans and penetration tests.

Player cheating

Many times it’s not the poker site that is cheating, but players. While most reputable online poker sites have software that is developed to catch and prevent cheating from happening, many sites have become overwhelmed by the number of cheaters, as well as their sophisticated cheating methods, and are unable to do anything about it.

The inability or unwillingness to stop multi-accounting allows cheating to occur. This is actually one of the common types of cheating, as it allows users to create multiple accounts. Then the player will position several of his accounts at the same table, and use these hands to control the action. Any new players that join the table will be taken advantage of, and will most likely lose their money as they are attempting to play against multiple accounts that are working together.

Most online poker sites have very little incentive to prevent cheaters from playing, as cheaters pay rake fees also, which keeps a supply of money coming in for the house. If a site completely eliminates cheating, the cheaters simply leave, and start playing at a site which does not have such strictly-enforced policies. In this way, sites can actually lose money, which leaves little incentive for the site to keep cheaters from playing the game.

Safe poker sites

While there is no guarantee that any online poker sites are totally legit, there are some that have been examined and labeled as legit by outside analysts. Take for instance PokerStars, which is the world’s largest online poker site, and seems to be the most reputable according to online blog and news posts. PokerStars uses an independent, third-party company called Cigital that uses their software to check the validity of the games on the PokerStars site. If the Cigital name sounds familiar, it’s probably because they are the company who cracked the dealing algorithm used by PlanetPoker when they were caught cheating in the earliest days of online poker.

While there are numerous online poker sites, it’s virtually impossible to tell which sites are completely legit. The best method to determine for yourself whether a site is legit or not is to do your homework. Perform a little research on the site, and use search engines to find information about the site. Check forum posts, online blog posts, user complaints, ratings and reviews, and any other material you can find about that specific site. If a high number of users have complained about dishonest dealings, you may wish to avoid that site. The same with a new site that has only recently been created. Look for established sites that have positive reviews, and have been around awhile.

Party Poker and Full Tilt Poker are two additional sites that have been touted as “safe” and “legit” by third-party analysts. As always, you should conduct your own research into determining whether a site is safe by checking reviews and ratings, and searching for positive or negative online posts about the company.

After absorbing endless criticism from serious online poker grinders, the success of PokerStars’ Spin & Go lottery SNG tournaments has spoken for itself. Last weekend, just days after the controversial new Lottery SNG format unleashed it’s very first $1,000,000 prize, two more members of PokerStars became millionaires playing $5 Spin & Go SNG’s.

On Monday, January 12^th, during the wee hours of the night in South Russia, one extremely lucky member of PokerStars going by the screen name “sss66666” won the very first $1mm Spin & Go. It was a momentous occasion for the world’s largest online poker room, and an unforgettable, life-altering moment for the 33 year old handyman who won it.

But amidst the celebration, many online poker players complained over the extensive time frame. Lottery SNG tourneys were first introduced in PokerStars’ regulated markets in July 2014, then were installed on the operators’ global platform in September of last year, resulting in a rather long waiting period for a 7-figure jackpot to strike.

As one online poker player now famously commented on his Twitter feed, “It’s probably the last one, too.”

Boy was he wrong! Just a few days later, a second $1mm jackpot Spin & Go winner emerged, and yet a third on the very next day. If you lost count, that’s three million dollar winners in 7 days.

On Saturday, January 17, a member of PokerStars residing in the Czech Republic known as “Tornado111” bested the table of three to win the enormous $1,000,000 jackpot. Then, on Sunday, January 18, online poker player “anushan_2323” did the very same thing, taking down another million dollar prize.

Tornado111 wins PokerStars 2^nd $1mm Lottery SNG

As Tornado 111 took his seat at the $5 Lottery SNG alongside “RusGreen” and “newmann”, the prize wheel spun its way to an incredible, maximum prize of $1.2 million. All knew they would receive either $100k or $1mm by the time it was over, and as fortune would have it, Lady Luck was clearly residing upon the shoulder of the Czech.

Tornado111 started off by eliminating “newmann”, who had the clear advantage with A♠-K♣ over A♣-10♣ when they both pushed all-in pre-flop. The board brought another 10, and that was all for newmann.

On the final hand, with A♥-2♥ underneath, “RusGreen” pushed the rest of his stack, amounting to less than 4 big blinds. Tornado111 made the call with just 6♥-5♦, but Lady Luck struck again, rounding out a straight on the river to give him the $1,000,000 win. “RusGreen” and “newmann” earned $100k apiece just for participating.

Anashun_2323 wins PokerStars 3^rd $1mm Lottery SNG

The very next day, Canadian online poker player “anashun_2323” joined “ChipsMongot” of Sweden and “jukeox72” of Germany at another $5 Spin & Go table. After a series of all-in shoves that kept the lead swinging like a pendulum in a tsunami, the tide finally took a decisive turn when anashun_2323 eliminated jukebox72 on A♥-10♣ over A♣-8♥.

The lead then went back and forth between the Canadian and Swede for several hands. In the end, it was anashun_2323’s A♣-K♦ that put an end to ChipsMongot’s (8♥-8♠) run for the 7-figure prize. The 2^nd and 3^rd place finishers still split the lucrative $200k remainder of the lottery SNG prize pool.

For the last 13 months, the Party Borgata network has led New Jersey’s online poker market in cash game traffic. WSOP NJ was able to creep up behind its rival a few times, but it wasn’t until this last weekend that the Caesars-owned poker room finally took top billing. Not only that; 888’s All American Poker Network (AAPN NJ) skipped ahead into the 2^nd spot.

After maintaining such a strong lead since The Garden State’s iGaming market first went live in November, 2013, the last place Party Borgata expected to be was on bottom. But after New Jersey’s online poker industry was reduced to just three competitors late last year, that’s exactly where the former leader ended up over the weekend.

As for why Party Poker and Party Borgata (collectively Party Borgata) have fallen behind, there are a few factors that can be taken into account. First and foremost, on Monday, January 12, 2015, New Jersey’s WSOP.com and 888Poker initiated a partial merger of their player bases. Secondly, Party Borgata’s most avid members haven’t been especially happy with the software. We’ll discuss more on those issues in a moment, but first…

Current Online Poker Traffic Stats

If we review the Garden State’s online poker cash game traffic over the last nine days, we see a significant change in 7-day averages. We’ll start with Monday, January 12, 2015—the day player pooling first began between WSOP NJ and 888Poker—then proceed to the following Friday, four days later, and finally today’s current stats, another four days down the road.

Note that the following results are derived from the traffic tracking statistics of PokerScout.

WSOP/888 Player Pooling a Huge Success

WSOP NJ and 888Poker NJ are both powered by 888 software, but unlike Party Poker and Borgata Poker (both powered by bwin.party), the two chose not to pool their players from the start. Last week, all low-limit cash game tables were pooled between WSOP and 888. A series of GTD tournaments were also shared, including $130k worth of each sites largest daily and weekly majors.

Negative Feedback for Party Borgata

For the last few months, ever since a major update to the software in September 2014, an MFC Error has been plaguing the online poker network. It mostly affects grinders and players who have multiple tables and/or programs open, particularly when tournament announcements pop up, causing the online poker room to crash. Players generally report other errors within the software upon relaunch, such as the inability to see hole cards.

A fix to the problem was promised on January 5, but no update occurred. Again, a fix was expected during the “week commencing 12th Jan”, as per Party_Rep ‘Colette’ on the TwoPlusTwo forums. But again, no update occurred. Instead, on Friday players were told that previous updates in December were meant to fix the MFC errors—(obviously, that didn’t work)—and that technicians are still working to find “the root cause”.

Players were once more asked to contact customer support with their account information and complete details of any further errors. Members have been justifiably outraged, including many who experienced repeated errors during the site’s GSSS II online poker series. All in all, while traffic is currently on par with last week’s early-week results, once the GSSS II is completed, there could be a lot more New Jersey players making the switch to WSOP NJ and/or 888Poker.