New Jersey Mayors to Play Online Poker Tourney

In an effort to promote regulated online gambling, several mayors from cities in New Jersey will compete in an online poker tournament.

Although the event will be held online at WSOP.com, the mayors will congregate together at Bally’s in Atlantic City next Thursday to compete in a winner-take-all tourney. According to AP, the prize pool will be $10,000 but will not come from the campaign funds of the participating mayors.

Caesars, owners of the WSOP brand and four of New Jersey’s 11 casinos, will put up the prize money that will be donated to the favorite charity of the winner. Thus far, the mayors who have confirmed their participation in the event are: Freehold Township Mayor David Salkin; Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop; Galloway Township Mayor Don Purdy; and Brick Mayor John Ducey.

The launch of regulated online poker and gambling is approaching its six-month anniversary in New Jersey and Caesars wanted to do something to kick off summer at the shore, said the company’s VP of marketing, Michael Staskin. The Caesars rep added that support from state politicians regarding Internet gambling has been tremendous and the tournament is a way to allow the mayors to experience it firsthand.

Organizers are expecting other Garden State mayors to also enter prior to the start of the tournament. For those mayors unfamiliar with No-Limit Texas Hold’em, coaching is available in advance of the event.

Some of the charities that the mayors will be playing for are the Jersey City Youth Foundation, Marine Corps League Detachment 203, and the Visitation Relief Center. The goal of the latter organization is to help families displaced by Superstorm Sandy, the hurricane that battered the eastern seaboard in 2012.

The participating mayors will compete in front of a live audience after establishing new user accounts. Experts will be available to get the mayors up to speed on using the software and to offer advice on playing poker.

New Jersey gaming sites soft launched on November 23, 2013 and commenced accepting real-money wagers three days later. Revenue estimations have been way off the mark in the first six months of operation, which led Governor Chris Christie to alter his projections substantially just a few months after launching.