WSOP.com Nevada Celebrates First Anniversary with Promotions, Upgrades
Today, September 19th, is significant in the history of internet gaming in Nevada, as it is the one-year anniversary of the launch of WSOP.com. Ultimate Poker may have beaten WSOP.com to market by a few months, but WSOP is clearly the dominant player in the market and the one with perhaps the most recognizable brand in poker (I say perhaps because PokerStars is still in existence), so Friday carries just as much weight or more than Ultimate Poker’s day of entry. To celebrate, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc., operator of WSOP.com, has launched a number of promotions and enhancements to the software for its Nevada customers.
On the promotions side, WSOP.com is slashing prices on tournament tickets, running a 24-hour tournament ticket sale. Until 9:19am Saturday, players in Nevada can purchase tournament tickets and save 50 percent on regular tourney fees. Keep in mind, this discount is only on the “fee” portion of the ticket, not the entire buy-in. For example, a $100 tournament ticket consists of a $91 buy-in and $9 fee. The promotion only discounts the fee down to $4.50, not the entire ticket down to $50. Thus, the $100 can be purchased for $95.50. Still, for tournament regulars, this is a great deal. The tickets are good for a year. 
Those who buy the tournament tickets may want to use them on the special Anniversary Tournament Series, starting tonight at 6:00pm. The Series will feature nine tournaments, one per day, and $70,000 in guaranteed prize pools. The highlight event will be the $200 Super Sunday tournament with a $25,000 guarantee. Also during the days of the Anniversary Tournament Series, players can opt-in to the Double Me Up promo to earn double APP’s in all real money cash games and tournaments. In addition to the double points, WSOP.com is going to pick 19 random players each day and award them 919 APP’s. Players must have generated at least one APP to be eligible for the drawing. And again, keep in mind that players must opt in to this promotion to start earning double points.
As for the software improvements and enhancements, one thing that should really help Nevada players is the enabling of geolocation over Wi-Fi. Previously, players needed to have their mobile phones on so that cell towers could triangulate their location to verify that they were playing from within Nevada’s borders. Now, after a software update, as long as a player’s Wi-Fi is turned on (the player doesn’t even have to be connected to it), their location can be verified.
Mobile gaming options are close to being available as well. WSOP.com expects mobile software (cell phone and tablet) to be released on both the iOS and Android platforms later this year. It sounds like the software will be at least close to full-featured, giving players the ability create accounts, sign in, deposit, and play on a mobile device.
WSOP.com also said that better and expanded payment options are on the way. In a press release, the company’s Vice President of Corporate Communications, Seth Palansky, said, “We are pleased to report some positive discussions with major credit card issuers and banks, and are optimistic there is a path to resolve the issues so that players can utilize some of the same credit cards they do for other everyday transactions. We are also always looking at additional payment options for our players.”
One nice thing about playing on WSOP.com in Nevada is that since the site is ultimately owned by Caesars Entertainment, players can deposit and cash out at any of the Caesars-operated locations in the state such as Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe, Reno, Las Vegas, or Laughlin, Harvey’s Lake Tahoe, and the multitude of other Las Vegas casinos including Paris, Caesars Palace, the Flamingo, the Rio, and Planet Hollywood. Thus, someone who scores big in a tournament doesn’t have to wait for his winnings to be transferred from his poker account to his bank account. If he lives close to a casino, he can drive right on over and pick up a sack of cash on the spot.
WSOP.com also has a number of electronic deposit methods including e-Check, Neteller, PayNearMe, VISA and Mastercard (credit and debit). Withdraws can be made by e-check and paper check.
As mentioned earlier, despite being second to market in Nevada, WSOP.com quickly became the Silver State’s online poker leader. According to PokerScout.com, WSOP.com has a seven-day average of 90 cash game players, compared to Ultimate Poker’s 65. There is also RealGaming, operated by the South Point Casino, but it is nary a blip on PokerScout’s radar. Sometime soon (define “soon”), WSOP.com will become part of 888’s All American Poker Network and will team up with a yet-to-launch Treasure Island online poker offering and a new 888 poker room.
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