Last week PokerStars announced it would be rebranding all of its live poker events in an attempt to globalize the company’s disparate poker tours.

The first of these newly relabeled events, the PokerStars Festival New Jersey 2016 will take place at Resorts Casino in Atlantic City from October 29 – November 6. And beginning in 2017, all PokerStars live events will henceforth be known as PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival events.

The upcoming event at Resorts, which happens to be PokerStars partner casino in New Jersey, has the capability to push one of the new talking points for legalization of online poker, the idea of poker tourism, and demonstrate why PokerStars is better positioned than all other online and land-based operators to excel on this front.

The latest online poker legislative buzzword: Poker Tourism

Poker tourism is a new angle on the economic benefits advocates of legal, regulated online gambling have adopted. Basically, poker tourism is the ability to bring in visitors by hosting live poker events at a land-based casino.

Poker tourism was on full display at the relatively small-scale Run It Up: Resorts Rumble event in May. The PokerStars branded event was able to fill dozens of hotel rooms that would otherwise have been vacant at the property. These visitors spent money on- and off-property, and left with a great experience, making them more likely to return.

This is poker tourism.

You might think this is small potatoes, but with revenue from online gambling underwhelming, and online gaming creating fewer jobs than land-based gaming, it’s important to be able to explain to lawmakers the indirect ways legal online gaming will bring money into the economy.

Poker tourism is a good argument to make, especially if you’re PokerStars and you’re trying to sell lawmakers on why your particular brand is important to a state. Having solid data showing the impact of a live event in New Jersey would be quite convincing:

1. x number of players booked x room nights at $x/night.
2. x number of players brought a guest with them.
3. These players spent on average $x on amenities and food & beverage during their stays.
4. Resorts had to increase staffing by x number of hours over the course of the week.
5. The economic impact was $x.

Poker tourism can also lead to capital investment.

Successful live events at Resorts Casino are likely to lead to Resorts and PokerStars investing in a dedicated poker tournament area (or rehabbing existing conference spaces) and perhaps the long-rumored a PokerStars branded brick and mortar poker room.

When poker tourism is added together with consumer protection benefits, and the direct economic impact of online gambling -from jobs to tax revenue to bolstering the state’s existing land-based casino industry – it’s a powerful argument to bring in front of lawmakers.

There is money to be had.

Jobs will be created as a result of online gambling.

And far from being cannibalistic, online gaming will prop up existing casinos.

PokerStars is the poker tourism leader

Any casino can host a poker tournament, but a state with legal online gambling, and a land based casino with a committed online poker partner like PokerStars, can pull off these events more often and with better results.

Here’s why.

First, the land-based casino and the online operator are no longer partnered for a single event. They’re long-term partners working together in a mutually beneficial way. It’s no longer about the success of the tournament series; it’s about the success of the casino.

As Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ director of corporate communications, said in the press release announcing PokerStars Festival New Jersey:

“We are committed to growing the poker market in New Jersey and part of this strategy is to help make New Jersey the poker hub of America in November. We invite players from across the globe to pitch up in the Garden State for the best live poker experience available in the world, live and online, with the first ever NJCOOP kicking off ahead of the Festival with plenty of tournaments on offer and big prizes.”

Second, as Hollreiser noted, PokerStars can run online satellite tournaments and packages, both in-state and out-of-state in other markets around the globe. This allows PokerStars to pull from a much larger player pool, and bring in more out-of-state tourism dollars.

Third, PokerStars has a history of running successful tournament series around the globe. PokerStars gets criticized from some corners for not focusing exclusively on poker anymore, this is an important part of providing the right experience for everyone, not just hardcore poker players.

At the PokerStars Festival New Jersey, attendees will find:

• A dedicated StarsFun skills zone area with table tennis, air hockey, foosball, cornhole and darts, as well as several contests with cash prizes;
• Miniature Golf Hole-in-One Progressive;
• Hoops Fever Progressive;
• Pinball Progressive;
• RunItUp Day with Team PokerStars Pro and Twitch sensation Jason Somerville. RunItUp Day will include a poker seminar and a Q&A session with Somerville, along with a variety of mixed-game events, including a Dealer’s Choice Stud Club event.
• $300+$40 Survivor “Immunity” tournament with $3,000 in cash and prizes, with reality TV stars Tyson Apostol and ‘Boston Rob’ Mariano.

All of these events and extracurricular activities seemed aimed at generating tourism dollars during the series, and sending people home with smiles on their faces, and making them more likely to want to return – be it for poker, or for some other reason.

Bottom line: PokerStars brings things to the table other online operators don’t have the desire or capability to pull off.