Puerto Rico Poker Tournaments
Puerto Rico is a semi-autonomous Caribbean territory of the United States, and for the most part operates as a separate country although it is still subject to the governance of U.S. federal law to a certain degree. It does not have political representation in Washington though and also lacks certain powers that U.S. states have. In the past there has been talk of making Puerto Rico a U.S. state nothing has come out of this yet.
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While Puerto Rico is poorer than the poorest U.S. state, Mississippi, and almost half of Puerto Rico’s population lives below the poverty line, they have certainly benefited economically from being a U.S. possession. Puerto Rico has the highest per capita GDP in Latin America, at over $33,000.
It's a pokerless atmosphere in Puerto Rico since it was hit by Hurricane Maria due to which 20 casinos on the island territory remain closed. These casinos were bread and butter to nearly 3.5 million US citizens. The storm was a horrific site with winds exceeding 150mph blowing out windows, peeling off roofs and ripping away trees from the ground. PokerAtlas has complete information about all 596 poker rooms in North America including tournament schedules, cash games, promotions, comps, player reviews, amenities and more. Check out our poker room reviews to find the best room for your playing style. I, personally, have a goal to make at least enough to pay for the trip. As expensive as Puerto Rico is; for an 8 day trip that means about winning about $400-$500 per night at poker. That simply isn’t going to happen at in San Juan. Maybe if you start at 4 PM and grind it out till 3:30 PM.
It has a strong and very well developed economy for its size, with a population of about 3.5 million, and its leading economic driver is manufacturing, something you only see with more developed countries. (1)
The Sheraton Puerto Rico is a top-class hotel and has many glowing reviews from previous guests. There are so many amenities on offer that you will struggle to fit them all into your schedule. The prices of the rooms vary based on how extravagant they are. You can expect to be spending around $250 per night for a standard two-bedroom room.
While tourism plays a lesser role in Puerto Rico’s economy than some other Caribbean islands, they still do get a lot of tourists, with over 4 million visitors a year. A large number come from the United States, who don’t need a passport to enter, although they get visitors from a wide variety of different countries. (2)
Puerto Rico has quite a bit of legal and regulated gambling for an island of its size, with a total of 21 casinos, in addition to a casino cruise and a racetrack. The casinos here are located in 11 different cities, so they are pretty well dispersed within the island. (3)
As is typical in the Caribbean, the casinos here are mostly targeted towards tourists, although Puerto Rican residents are welcome at them as well. While Puerto Rico does have a lot of poor people, there are also a lot of people here who are fairly well off, and have the means to gamble at the major casinos, which tend to be out of reach of the population generally in many Latin American regions.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who either can’t afford to gamble in the regular casinos or don’t wish to travel to them, and the way the law was constructed, the intention was to relegate gambling to these casinos only on the island, but the law isn’t said to cover “adult entertainment machines,” which is being interpreted by some as covering slot machines as well, and there are lots of slot parlors around the island that have taken advantage of this.
Whether these slot parlors are legal or not remains a matter of debate, but the larger casino operators are complaining that they are infringing upon their business, but on the other hand they do provide a popular land based gambling outlet for the residents here, even though they represent an expansion of the gambling scene that the government may not have intended. (4)
Puerto Rico has a wide variety of gambling options for the public, and aside from the casinos and the smaller slot parlors, there is also the lottery, bingo, horse racing, and various illegal gambling events such as cock fighting, dog fighting, and car racing. There used to be 125 cock fighting arenas here at one time when it is legal, and even though it’s not any more, it still goes on. (5)
Overall, gambling in Puerto Rico is wide open, and players have ample opportunity to gamble all they wish here, both online and offline.
Playing Poker in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico does have some land based poker available at several of their casinos, although only a limited amount. Hard core live players won’t have any problem finding a decent amount of action as long as they are willing to go to one of the casinos that offer it, and 5 of them do lay out poker on a full time basis, however there are only a total of 7 poker rooms on the island, so this is a pretty niche market to be sure. (6)
Other than that, players can play in private games if they can find them, or play on the internet. The internet has taken over the poker scene these days, and the overwhelming percentage of real money poker these days takes place online, and Puerto Rico is no exception.
Of course, with Puerto Rico being part of the United States, and with the way that poker rooms avoid the U.S. these days, and pretty much all of them do, it’s challenging to find a good online poker room to be able to play at. It’s not that they aren’t out there, but when you’ve culled the field to eliminate almost all of the good options, that’s going to make it more difficult for sure.
Poker is at least decently popular here, which isn’t the case in some Caribbean regions, and some of that may have to do with the influence of American culture here, and there’s certainly more of that since Puerto Rico is after all part of the U.S. Poker is certainly huge in the U.S., and it’s not anywhere near as big in Puerto Rico, but it does have its following.
Puerto Rico Poker Tournaments Real Money
It’s probably the case that the lack of options has probably stifled the online poker market quite a bit like it has on the mainland, and in spite of their still being some good options in the U.S., they just aren’t as well known, although they don’t have the traffic of Poker Stars and people are still lamenting about that, and quite a few grinders have moved to other countries so they can still play there.
Puerto Rico does have a high percentage of its population with internet access, about 75% of them, so that adds up to 2.7 million potential players. Puerto Rico does have regulated online gambling already, but it’s limited to horse racing only, although they do take a more progressive view of gambling than most states on the mainland do, with the exception of the ones that already have regulated online gambling anyway.
Top Online Poker Sites for Players from Puerto Rico
Perhaps at some point, they will bring in regulated poker here, but that’s probably a ways off, as poker really isn’t that big here yet. So for now, players are relegated to choosing from among the few sites that do accept them, although we do have a recommendation for you that will allow you to have the high quality experience that you seek and one comparable to the best online poker sites out there period.
Black Chip Poker is among our top 5 recommended online poker rooms in the world no matter where you live, and they are the only one that accepts players from Puerto Rico and almost all states in the United States as well.
There are a few concerns out there about U.S. facing poker rooms, and the biggest one is how well they deal with the challenges of moving money in and out of the poker rooms, and in particular, the speed, or lack of speed of withdrawals. The good news is that this has all been worked out much better lately within the industry as a whole, and this is the case at Black Chip as well, and the poker rooms that still struggle with this have pretty much fallen by the wayside now.
Black Chip also boasts a good amount of traffic, and that’s another concern that some of these poker rooms have, as you do want to play at a site which has enough traffic to make playing there worthwhile, and this is certainly the case here.
Overall, this is a good enough poker room to make our top 5 and we look at all the things that make a poker room good, and Black Chip Poker scores well. New players also get a nice bonus just for trying them out, and if you haven’t yet yourself, we recommend that you check them out.
References:
1. Puerto Rico
2. Tourism in Puerto Rico
3. Puerto Rican Casinos and Gambling in Puerto Rico
4. Online Gambling Sites in Puerto Rico
5. Gambling in Puerto Rico
6. Poker Rooms in Puerto Rico
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Table Of Contents
Puerto Rico Follows States in Passing Sports Betting Bill
News of sports betting being introduced in many different states in the U.S. has dominated industry news over the last year. Indeed, it seems we can hardly get through an edition of 'Inside Gaming' without mentioning yet another state having either passed new legislation and/or having launched sports betting.
This week we can share similar news regarding Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory located in the Caribbean about 1,000 miles from Florida. That's because lawmakers there have voted in favor of a measure to legalize both online gambling and sports betting in Puerto Rico, with only a signature from Governor Ricardo Roselló now needed for the law to pass. That step is expected, as Roselló has already expressed his support.
According to Yogonet Gaming News, both the Puerto Rico House and Senate passed the bill earlier this week which will permit betting on sporting events, fantasy sports, as well as eSports in both online and in land-based venues. Only amateur sporting events taking place on the island will be excluded.
The bill also provides for the creation of a new regulatory body to help oversee both new gambling as well as the territory's Horse Racing Industry Administration and the Gaming Division of the Tourism Office of the Department of Economic Development. The new law additionally outlines tax obligations while allowing for the new Gaming Commission to establish license fees as well as draw guidelines for who can obtain them.
As Legal Sports Report noted in April, Governor Rosselló supports the legislation, having then cited a study suggesting that revenue created could start at $29 million next year before increasing to $84 million by 2024.
Another study presented by Rosselló estimated the government could expect between $44-62M in annual revenue, all of which would be especially welcome in the wake of the territory's recent debt crisis and ongoing recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria which hit the island in September 2017.
Monitoring Eldorado-Caesars Merger Aftershocks
An earthquake with a 6.4 magnitude struck in Southern California yesterday, the effects of which were felt in Las Vegas as well with aftershocks continuing to be reported in the region.
Meanwhile figurative aftershocks continue to be felt throughout the industry following the blockbuster deal between Eldorado Resorts Inc. and Caesars Entertainment Corp. last month. The agreement saw Eldorado acquire and merge with Caesars in a cash-and-stock deal worth $17.3 billion (plus debt). When the deal is finalized in next year, the newly-formed company known as Caesars will be the largest gaming company in the U.S.
Earlier this week Seeking Alpha presented a detailed analysis of the deal speculating how it will affect both companies and the industry as a whole: 'Eldorado Resorts: After Caesars Deal, Big Reward - And Bigger Risk.'
The analysis discusses Eldorado's eventful progress over recent years while also considering how investors in both Eldorado and Caesars should be judging the merged company's prospects going forward, one important factor being how stable the U.S. gaming environment remains.
Meanwhile Casino.org this week also addressed what analysts are saying about the deal in 'Eldorado Enthusiasm: Analyst Forecasts Epic Move in Stock After Caesars Deal.'
The upshot being described there appears to be 'significant long-term benefits for the company post-acquisition,' noting how even though Eldorado shares went down initially following the merger news, they've already rebounded and according to some forecasters will continue to do so.
Poker Tournaments In Puerto Rico
The Las Vegas Sun has also shared a feature covering both Eldorado Resorts' past and future, 'Reno gambling company poised to be US biggest.'
The article recounts how Don Carano first opened the Eldorado Hotel Casino in downtown Reno in 1973, enjoying success from the start and eventually expanding the family business to more than two dozen properties across the U.S.
Following Carano's passing in 2017, the company is now managed by sons Anthony Carano (President and COO) and Gary Carano (Chairman) as well as Thomas Reeg (CEO). LVS spoke with all three to get a sense of where the company might be headed, in particular what its plans are for the nine Strip properties it has acquired from Caesars.
SLS Las Vegas Changes Name Back to Sahara
Finally, a familar name has recently returned to the Las Vegas Strip.
As dramatically revealed during a ceremony a little over a week ago, after several years the SLS Resort has changed its name back to the Sahara.
The Sahara first opened in 1952 and was part of the initial rise of iconic hotel-casino resorts on the famed Vegas Strip. Those who have seen the original Oceans 11 may recall how the Sahara was one of the locations featured in the film.
After being purchased by by Sam Nazarian and the Stockbridge Real Estate Group in 2007, the Sahara closed in 2011, then was reopened as SLS Las Vegas in 2013. Nazarian sold his interest in 2015, then later it came under new ownership after being acquired by the California-based Meruelo Group last year.
As The Los Angeles Times reports, owner Alex Meruelo was on hand to reveal the name change back to the Sahara, written 'in all capital letters — amid fireworks and a light-flashing drone show that projected jackpot-winning slot reels (triple cherries and triple sevens) in the sky above.'
In a statement Meruelo emphasized how the Sahara 'played 'an important role in the evolution of the destination,' and pledged to continue that tradition 'for the love of Vegas.'
Puerto Rico Poker Tournaments Tournament
The property continues to go through a $100 million renovation that includes upgrading the 1,615 hotel rooms, the casino, and the restaurants and bars.
Photo: 'Flags of Puerto Rico and USA” (adapted), CC BY-SA 2.0.
Puerto Rico Poker Tournaments Rules
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Industrysports bettingPuerto RicoEldorado ResortsCaesars Entertainment Corp.Las VegasRenoNevadaSaharaSLS Las VegasAlex MerueloMeruelo Group