Delaware Online Poker is launched amidst a much-muted marketing campaign that saw the Diamond State unveil its virtual doors to find nobody waiting to walk in. We take a look at progress in their first week.
When it came to the fanfare of the United States online poker launch the Diamond State of Delaware was always going blare its trumpet from under the cover of a muzzle.
Sandwiched in between Nevada’s hype of being the first state to launch legal real money online poker, and the much larger state of New Jersey’s imminent iGaming launch, it never really stood a chance when it came to painting the pages of the media outlets red.
Instead, the 19th November launch of online poker has seemingly traveled under the radar whilst the bigger blip of New Jersey continues to dominate the headlines; but I don’t think Delaware has a narcissistic bone in it’s body. Their plan is not to take the lead role in this soap opera, but to instead take home a decent wage as a member of the supporting cast.
With a population of just under a million people Delaware’s iGaming problem, particularly in the poker sector, was always going to be one of liquidity – but they know that and have always known that.
You don’t need a brain the size of Albert Einstein to understand that Delaware’s plans are to get their product solid enough to be one of the first beneficiaries of an inter state compact, with Las Vegas and New Jersey able to turn 1m potential customers into 10.5m.
So how have they started?
There are three places offering online poker at the moment: DelawarePark.com, DoverDowns.com and Harringtongamingonline.com.
A quick scan of the home pages of these sites tells a story that has been the one critical complaint that the early poker community has had about the launch of online poker in this tiny state.
The return of online poker is a big thing, but the home pages of these sites have preferred not to make a big deal out of it. The online gambling experience has just been fitted onto the top shelf alongside all the other bottles.
The residents of Delaware are eternally grateful to the Delaware State Lottery (DSL) for bringing online poker back to the State. Well everyone except for those in the corner of one Sheldon Adelson that is. And yet the one critique is that once the DSL had done the hard work they should have stepped aside and allowed the online poker tranche to be managed by poker people.
The technical side of the online poker offering is being managed by 888 Holdings, but their influence stops at the quality of the software. Instead, the community believe that the launch of the online poker room should have been managed by the people who manage the brick and mortar equivalents at Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington Raceway and Casino.
The lack of numbers (47 at a 24hr peak) is being blamed on a complete lack of marketing presence within the state, with residents stating openly in poker forums on the net that they have seen very little, if any, marketing about the re-introduction of online poker.
This lack of marketing is confusing as all messages that have come out from the casinos is the need to make sure that online gaming attracts newer customers instead of keeping the brick and mortar customers from leaving their bedrooms.
An absence of marketing apart, and ignoring the usual sarcastic vitriol spewed forth from the same idiotic section of the poker community, the launch has been successful, and most poker players can see this for what it is – another baby step towards a full return for online poker in the United States.
Players have had problems depositing with Visa, but the associated press has been quite clear that, for the time being, Visa wants no part in online gambling transactions in the US.
The same geophysical problems that plagued the launch of Ultimate Poker resurfaced, with Verizon once again proving to be a thorn in the mouse thumb of the players, but these issues seem to have subsided in a relatively short space of time.
Delaware Park have introduced poker cam tables for the recreational players to have a bit of fun and the sites have even started to offer reward systems.
The early signs are that additional software programs like Hold’em Manager are not compatible, hand histories cannot be saved onto your hard drive and feedback from the players is that the games, when they run, are fairly soft.
So when all is said and done there really isn’t much to grumble about if you are a poker player and live within the state of Delaware, and if you don’t live within the state you now have a reason to move there.
Or maybe not, as one 2+2 forum poster stated, “I will not to go to Delaware for any reason other than to marry Jennicide {Jennifer Leigh}.”
Well if she’s fair game when’s the next flight?
