Full Tilt Makes Erroneous Early Breakthrough in New Jersey

Poker players from New Jersey were met by a pleasant surprise yesterday. According to a thread that appeared on pocketfives.com, some players from the Garden State received a message upon logging in stating that a new version of Full Tilt was now available for download, offering real-money games to New Jersey customers.

However, the excitement was short-lived, as clicking the provided link only led to a page stating that the games "were not available in the US." Eric Hollreiser, Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars and Full Tilt, quickly posted on Twitter that an error had occurred and that they were looking into what went wrong.

We're looking into the errant message re NJ license. It is an error and we are investigating.
— Eric Hollreiser (@erichollreiser) January 21, 2015

Despite the quick reaction to explain the situation, the message started a vivid discussion in the community about the possibility that Full Tilt (and PokerStars) could start offering real-money games in New Jersey soon. A number of players tweeted about the message they had received upon logging into their mobile application and Dennis Lopez was one of them.

Hmm, got this message when signing on @FullTiltPoker from my iPhone. Haven't tried the computer program yet. pic.twitter.com/KLG6qCsWgm
— Dennis Lopez (@DLO_Rican) January 21, 2015

The initial excitement quickly deflated when players were made aware that it was all just a mistake, but it rekindled the rumors that PokerStars (and FT) could enter NJ by March 2015 as indicated by State Senator Raymond Lesniak.

Chris Grove of onlinepokerreport was the first one to report about the event. In his article, Grove mentioned that a source close to the company told him that the launch in New Jersey will not be happening any time soon.

We will have to wait and see what the future has in store for New Jersey. Right now, there is too much conflicting information. But even if accidental, this Full Tilt breakthrough in the U.S. should be an indicator of good things to come.