BetMGM Poker is the latest gambling app to appear in the Google Play store. Unlike its casino and sportsbook, BetMGM’s poker product is only available for players in New Jersey, and the app is marked as such.
Google has only allowed such apps on its platform beginning March 1. DraftKings was the first to get its app accepted, and offshore gambling operations have been busy uploading imposter apps to fool customers searching for other products, including BetMGM’s. Google must be in the process of cracking down on these illegal apps, as those appearing in searches for BetMGM last week are now gone.
BetMGM likely to upload casino, sportsbook soon
A “BetMGM” search on Google Play on March 17 didn’t yield results for its casino or sportsbook apps, but those will likely be arriving in the store soon.
Casino and sports betting revenue far exceed online poker revenue for BetMGM. That’s true for all operators save PokerStars, for whom poker is a core product.
New Jersey only, for now
BetMGM Poker is one of several skins on the Partypoker Network, which operates out of Atlantic City’s Borgata. (Partypoker itself and Borgata Poker are the other skins on the network.)
According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Borgata collected $796,647 in revenue from online poker. While down from January’s $926,288, it’s about double the February 2020 total of $454,527.
The DGE release showed New Jersey’s online poker revenue was slightly down in February, at nearly $2.5 million vs. January’s more than $2.7 million.
By contrast, Borgata collected nearly $25 million in online casino revenue in February 2021. It also added more than $4 million from online sports betting during the same month.
BetMGM may add online poker options in PA and MI
BetMGM recently began offering its casino and sportsbook to players in both Pennsylvania and Michigan. Adding online poker seems like the next logical step.
There are signs that Entain, which runs BetMGM as a partnership with MGM Resorts International, may be thinking of pushing BetMGM Poker harder than its own Partypoker brand, at least outside of New Jersey. One such clue is that BetMGM appointed appointed the former Borgata tournament director Tab Duchateau as its new Poker Operations Games Manager. BetMGM presumably wouldn’t need such a role if it planned on riding on Partypoker’s coat tails in other states.
