The 2020 New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) Main Event was recently concluded and it saw an anonymous punter walk away with an impressive $22,444. On a laid back Monday night, a punter going by “DabledoreNJ” won the highly anticipated 2020 New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) Main Event after surviving a field of 422 that was spread out over 2 short days.
This year’s New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) Main Event received a total of 9,350 entrants and approximately $1,125,973.30 in prize money was awarded. On the final day of the tournament, “DabledoreNJ” started on a high with a top-10 stack and effortlessly rose to the top of the counts within the first few hours of play, where he remained until the end.
“DabledoreNJ” beat the likes of Shankar “Burgersssss” Pillai who was the chip leader on the first day of the tournament, as well as Ryan “hagz2richez” and “st0neydanza”. Other notable names that were eliminated during the tournament include NJCOOP Event #38 Winner Daniel “loxonbagel” Buzgon, who bagged 51st place.
What we cover
The 2020 New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) Main Event saw multiple title winners
One of the most striking things to occur in this year’s New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) Main Event was the remarkable number of bettors that managed to capture multiple titles. During the event, 8 different players including “DabledoreNJ” bagged 2 titles each. While Daniel “Ioxonbagel” Buzgon dominated the title fold with three titles!
Although Buzgon did not win, he did secure over $13,000 making him the 2nd highest all-time winner of the NJCOOP/NJSCOOP boasting 12 wins overall. The undefeated poker king remains “AvaGray”, who secured Event #7 with 16 event wins. This year’s tournament was the 5th edition of the New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP).
Highlights from this year’s event consisted of:
- $1 million in total guarantees
- Series culminating in a $125,000 guaranteed Main Event
- Great incentives such as Spin & Go Satellites and Daily Second Chance Freerolls
The first 2 editions of the NJCOOP series held in 2016 and 2017 both boasted $1.2 million in total guarantees. The guarantees dipped to $1 million after 2018’s edition and have remained the same since.
Last year’s 2019 New Jersey Championship of Online Poker (NJCOOP) saw more than 6500 overall entries, as well as $1.048 million distributed in prize money across 50 different events. All in all, the 4th entry attracted 373 contestants to amass a prize pool of $104,440.
New Jersey online poker catching up gradually
This year has been particularly tough on the betting industry but online poker sites have been some of the most affected. Compared to other categories such as sports betting, New Jersey online poker sites continue to trail behind.
Except for a few months in the year, online casino games have fared well and have carried the overall gaming sector for years. Whenever online poker revenue falls behind, casino games are always there to pick up the slack.
Based on figures acquired from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the state’s 3 online poker operators recorded a modest $2,554,216 in September 2020, a boost of 55.8% compared to the same period last year in September 2019. While there is no denying that this was a great number for online poker sites amidst a pandemic, it’s true to admit that it was the weakest growth that the market has seen since March 2020.
Don’t believe it? Last month, other online casino games aside from poker produced $85,079,481 in revenue, more than a 115% upsurge year-over-year. Through the first months of the year, online poker revenue had marked a 92.1% year-over-year gain with an online poker revenue of $30,867,886.
Online poker was extremely popular during the early days of the pandemic. Case in point, an international poker tournament titled The “Sunday Millions” tournament ended up breaking records for both entries as well as the money generated. The Sunday Millions managed to produce a prize pool of more than $18.6, making it one of the biggest online tournaments to happen in the history of poker.
This high for the poker world only lasted a few weeks though. In the few months following the lockdown, the house-banked games slowly started taking the lead again in terms of growth. iPoker, on the other hand, also continues to flourish.
Final Thoughts
New Jersey sports betting has been the most highly favored all year. The New Jersey sports betting market continues to impress with an increase of more than $10 million in revenue month-over-month.
The biggest winners so far are the Meadowlands, as it currently boasts PointsBet and FanDuel Sportsbooks which are some of the biggest names in the industry as operating skins. Combined, the 2 sportsbooks have brought in over $20 million of the almost $39 million in total revenue.
Resorts Digital, on the other hand, has made over $10 million in revenue, joining PointsBet and FanDuel Sportsbooks at the top of the gaming market in New Jersey. October was a great month for sports betting. The mishmash of MLB playoffs, the start of the NBA the NFL, and NHL seasons created the perfect recipe for success.
As the holidays inch closer and closer, the online gambling market in New Jersey will continue to thrive, which is why all other states with legalized sports betting are observing closely and taking notes. Just recently, Louisiana, South Dakota, as well as Maryland, took major steps and joined the booming sports betting market in the country. The rest of the country will soon follow, it’s only a matter of time.
Are you interested in playing poker online in New Jersey? Check out our in-depth reviews of the best poker sites in New Jersey: BetMGM, PartyPoker, and Borgata.