Well, well, well. This is not your average deposit bonus, and I'll be frank: I had to read it several times before I fully believed what's happening. But this is the gist:
- $100K Mega Bonus Pokerstars assure us that the Mega Bonus Award will be in your account within minutes of depositing as long as the correct codes are used. These exciting rewards are given at random and everyone will get one, the rewards range from a $5,000 All in Shootout ticket up to $100,000 in cash.
- PokerStars Deposit Bonus. The first-deposit bonus for PokerStars US players, using the marketing code STARS600, is: 100% match bonus up to $600; That means whatever amount you deposit (up to $600) will be matched by PokerStars in bonus money. The bonus releases in $10 increments for every 100 VIP Player Points (VPPs) earned.
PokerStars is offering a deposit bonus, and if you take advantage of it, you could have up to $100,000 deposited into your PokerStars account. Don't have one yet? Get it here.
Yeah, I didn't believe it either, but that's what's happening. Want proof? These are the details.
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Now, if you are one of those folks who think, 'I never win anything,' you might want to think again. See, even if your deposit doesn't end up with $100,000 in your account, you're still going to get something. Prizes begin with $100,000 All-In Shootout tickets, climb up to real cash, and go all the way up to $100,000.
Deposits of $25 (€22 / £15 / CAD $30) or more using bonus code MEGABONUS will result in a Mega Bonus Reward in your account almost immediately. You'll get a pop-up in the PokerStars lobby, and if it's a cash prize, you can do whatever you want with it. Play with it, sit on it, or cash it out. It's yours. Do with it what you want.
Oh, and you can do it for four weeks in a row if you like. So, it will give you four chances to hit the big one. Yes, really.
Now, because I'm still a little taken aback by the whole thing and might be a little light-headed, before you make your deposit, you will want to read all the details. Do that here on the PokerStars Mega Bonus page and then go drop a little bit of money in your account.
Pokerstars Mega Bonus
Good luck. And, hey, give us a shout on Twitter at the @PokerStarsBlog account and let us know what you won!
Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Get an account here.
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging
Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Get an account here.
Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of BloggingAfter a bit of a dry spell in which PokerStars NJ offered little more than a small Spin & Go promotion, the operator has rolled out a generous, if not exploitable, reload bonus that will see players earn a top-off on eligible deposits.
As is the case with most PokerStars promotions these days, the bonus amount will be determined lottery-style, with prizes running the gamut from $5 to $5,000.
Humpty dumpty game online. Mega Cash Bonus runs from September 19 to October 9, and players must enter the bonus code CASHMEGA in order to qualify.
Pokerstars Mega Bonus Association
PokerStars opts for a no-strings attached approach
Beyond the randomized prize structure, Mega Cash Bonus differs from traditional online poker reload bonuses in one other key way: there are no earning requirements.
This may strike as odd to NJ online poker players, who have grown accustomed to having their bonus funds released at a predesignated rakeback rate, typically in the 20 percent range. But it's unlikely we'll see anyone complaining.
That goes double for occasional players, who have little chance of clearing traditional bonuses before they expire.
Given the no-strings attached nature of the bonus, PokerStars NJ stands to incur substantial up-front marketing costs. However, the capped size of the New Jersey online pokermarket should prevent these costs from getting out of hand. Contrarily, PokerStars would be on the hook for millions if it hosted a similar promotion on its rest-of-world dot-com site.
Also, it's likely that Stars will recoup at least a portion of these costs via an increase in cash liquidity on the site. That presumes, of course, that players will not hit-and-run, which may prove a bit idealistic.
Many will win a little, few will win a lot
Players who regularly participate in promotions and Spin & Go's on PokerStars will already be familiar with the randomized payout structure — which has become a staple of PokerStars' marketing strategy in the post-Amaya era.
The majority of players will receive cash bonuses ranging from $5 to $15, with less than one percent winning prizes of $100 or more. Full probability matrix is as follows:
- $5,000 cash: 0.08 percent
- $1,000 cash: 0.15 percent
- $100 cash: 0.50 percent
- $25 cash: 2.50 percent
- $15 cash: 8.00 percent
- $10 cash: 28.77 percent
- $5 cash: 60.00 percent
The average weekly value of this promotion works out to $13.70. On a minimum $30 deposit, that equates to a 45.7 percent cashback deal. However, it's worth noting that $4 of that amount is accounted for by the top prize.
Multiplying by three — which is the maximum number of times players can opt-in — yields a total promotional value of $41.11. That's fairly low by traditional reload standards, but a tremendous no-strings-attached return on a $90 investment.
Well timed aggression
A strong argument can be made that PokerStars NJ had little choice but to pull off something big — at least if it hoped to remain relevant in the increasingly competitive New Jersey online poker market.
Whether Mega Cash Bonus qualifies is yet to be seen. What is known is that after an early August rebound, facilitated by the site's Card Hunt promotion, cash-game liquidity went down into the dumps.
According to recent PokerScout figures, 7-day cash game averages on PokerStars were hovering right around 90 players before Mega Cash Bonus began.
By comparison, the partnership of WSOP NJ and 888 Poker NJ is averaging roughly 130 players. The network received a big boost earlier this month when WSOP NJ launched a reload bonus of its own — a 100 percent match up to $1,000.
So far, Mega Cash Bonus is having at least some sort of measurable impact, as cash game averages are up near 100.
Thanks to its monopoly on the lottery-SNG format, PokerStars won't need to close the gap completely to maintain the revenue lead for September, but every little bit helps. And the larger player bankrolls will certainly come in handy next month, when PokerStars NJ hosts the first annual NJ Championship of Online Poker.
