The PokerStars NJ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is in the books, and those books are in the black.

After promising $1.2 million in guarantees across the online tournament series, the New Jersey online poker site generated almost $1.45 million in prize money. That is not the only reason PokerStars has to celebrate either.

The site broke a number of records, including the largest online tournament prize pool in NJ history.

SCOOP Main Event prize pool surpasses $200K

PokerStars set a new benchmark for a tournament prize pool with its high buy-in SCOOP Main Event. The $500 buy-in tournament generated a $204,450 prize pool. The tournament offered a $200,000 guarantee. Last year’s Main Event featured overlay, but this year’s bested the benchmark by nearly $5,000.

As a result, the tournament earned the honor of biggest event in New Jersey online poker history. Severin Rasset, director of poker innovation and operations at PokerStars, commented on the record-setting series:

“After celebrating PokerStars NJ’s first anniversary we are proud to see that NJSCOOP has delivered both New Jersey’s largest ever online series, and its largest ever prize pool for a single tournament in the Main Event. These records prove NJSCOOP’s popularity and success, thanks to our players. I hope that those who took part enjoyed the series as much as we did preparing it for them.”

The winner of the Main Event was a Florida man whose online handle is “Fishy Dave33.” He reeled in over $36,000 for the victory. Meanwhile, PokerStars Mind Sports Ambassador Jennifer Shahade finished third for over $20,000.

Total SCOOP prize pool hits $1,448,707

The tournament series ran for almost three weeks and featured 70 different tournaments. There were 35 official SCOOP events, with each event divided into separate high and low buy-in tournament.

Unlike some previous PokerStars NJ events, this series managed to exceed prize pool expectations instead of offering up tons of overlay. The site spent the early part of 2017 celebrating its first full year in the New Jersey online casino market.

Now that the company has a year of experience under its belt, it seems to be moving on from some of the growing pains that came with carving out a market share.

PokerStars tops in poker, but online casino still reigns supreme

The good news for PokerStars NJ is that it reigns supreme when it comes to online poker. It quickly surpassed BorgataPoker as the place to play in the Garden State.

The bad news is that NJ online poker appears to be done growing. The stagnant market is a finite revenue source for online operators. Online casinos, on the other hand, continue to grow.

PokerStars’ land-based partner Resorts and Caesars are near the back of the pack for online casino revenue. Golden Nugget, an operator who does not even bother offering online poker, continues to set records and lead the pack.

With that in mind, perhaps the 2018 NJ SCOOP will feature some blackjack tournaments in addition to the poker events?

Keep up with what’s going in NJ online poker and casino news, plus bonus offers from NJ online casinos with our online gambling NJ forum.

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