After 11 Years in Las Vegas, World Poker Tour Championship Moves To Atlantic City
By Tim Jimenez
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., (CBS) -- After 11 years in Las Vegas, the World Poker Tour Championship is taking place in Atlantic City this week. A national gaming analyst calls this a major win for online gaming in New Jersey.
Global Gaming Business Magazine Publisher Roger Gros says The World Poker Tour Championship left Vegas for The Borgata because it wanted to be where the action is.
"New Jersey is really becoming the center of the universe for online gaming and online poker," Gros said.
He says internet gaming is impacting New Jersey, despite falling well short of expectations since it started in November. Millions of people all over the world play poker and Gros says he's spoken to some who actually relocated to the Garden State.
"From outside of the country. A couple of them moved from Mexico to live in New Jersey to be able to play the legal online tournaments here," he said.
Gros says there are still a lot of kinks to work out. It's been tough, for example, dealing with credit card companies for online gaming, but he says it will one day be a great feeder to the AC casinos.
In the meantime, highlights of the tournament will be nationally televised next month, which Gros says is critical exposure for a city that needs it.