Deputy Editor
Just a month after it immediately left New York following the state’s passing a ban on sweepstakes gambling, ClubWPT Gold announced a return.
No explanation has been given for the move. ClubWPT Gold simply posted a short video ad saying New York players are welcome back in its games. Site ambassador Doug Polk also trumpeted the “good news” without any explanation.
As one of the most populous states (it ranks fourth with about 20 million people), New York is an extremely important market for the sweepstakes sites. Even if California remains a legal state for ClubWPT Gold, New York still represents almost 10% of the site’s addressable market. Without California, it would count for more than 10%, assuming bans in certain other states take effect.
ClubWPT Gold hopes to remain in California despite that state also banning sweepstakes operators. WPT recently announced a convoluted monthly cashout system designed to keep the site operating on a “limited and occasional basis” in compliance with state sweepstakes law.
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What is Behind ClubWPT Gold Returning to New York?
It’s clear that ClubWPT Gold should be plenty motivated to remain in New York. The question, then, is why the company immediately left following the change to New York gambling law, only to reverse course barely more than a month later.
Unlike many other changes to the site’s terms and conditions, the New York return has not been accompanied by an explainer in ClubWPT Gold’s “Player Support” page. ClubWPT Gold’s announcement of the New York exit has become a broken link, so it took that page down.
The only recent New York-centric announcement informs players that state law limits them to $5,000 in winnings on any one play or “spin.” Florida has the same restriction. That announcement is dated two months ago.
PokerScout can only speculate on a few possibilities.
Perhaps ClubWPT Gold’s lawyers have determined that the switch to a business model, in part, based on AI poker training, has sufficiently positioned the site on the right side of the legal line.
Alternatively, site brass may have decided that leaving some states but remaining in California is a bad look, a sort of “admission of guilt” as far as state bans go. That might make it more difficult to argue in favor of the site’s legality if and when the time comes in court.
Whatever the case, ClubWPT Gold has clearly made a conscious decision to be the most aggressive sweepstakes poker operator in working around state-wide bans. Its competitors continue to add more states to their banned territories seemingly by the month. That makes ClubWPT Gold’s strategy stand out even more.
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