Rush Street Interactive (RSI) is looking to hire at least one full stack engineer to join its poker development team, presumably to work on the BetRivers Poker platform expected to launch by the end of the year.
The job posting is more evidence that Chicago-based RSI is moving forward with BetRivers Poker — a new real money online poker platform that will go head-to-head with rivals BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker, PokerStars, and WSOP in the US.
Players in Canada also have an excellent chance of seeing BetRivers Poker Ontario, and pokerfuse recently learned that RSI is making preparations to launch BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania, even if it’s still a segregated market when it happens.
But the platform has to be completed first, with code writing and substantial amounts of testing still likely ahead.
To that end, RSI posted identical listings for a Full Stack Engineer position — specifically for poker — to European job boards serving Malta, Serbia, and two cites in Estonia: Tallinn (the capital) and Tartu.
“We’re building bridges between online, social and land-based gaming businesses to create amazing, integrated experiences that keep players in the game,” RSI said.
For each job posting, the company said it was “seeking a Full Stack Engineer to join our Poker team, where you’ll spearhead the development and maintenance of websites and micro frontends using React and TypeScript, ensuring seamless user experiences.”
RSI is also looking for a Full Stack Engineer in Toronto, but for promotional content, not poker.
It wasn’t clear when the jobs were posted or when they expire. There wasn’t a deadline for candidates to apply.
BetRivers Poker Could Hit the Ground Running
While RSI remains tight-lipped about its plans for online poker, information about the vertical is released from time-to-time.
The last time the company said anything official about BetRivers Poker was May 1, the day it posted an investor presentation covering 1Q 2024.
One slide from that presentation bragged about the scalability of RSI’s platform, which the company said was “proven to increase retention and player values.”
RSI said its platform “supports iCasino, sports, social and poker,” adding that it was licensed in 19 jurisdictions. Most importantly, that includes four of the member states of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), a multi-state gaming compact that supports online poker, plus Pennsylvania and Ontario.
The MSIGA states where RSI is licensed and could potentially launch BetRivers Poker in short order are Michigan, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Delaware — where RSI will have a monopoly for online poker, through an exclusive igaming provider license with the Delaware Lottery.
BetRivers Ranks High in All iGaming States
According to the market analysis firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (E&K), RSI ranked as the No. 3 operator for online casino gaming, out of 15 operators total, in Pennsylvania in 1Q 2024.
That performance metric is important to note, considering that RSI currently appears to be preparing to launch BetRivers Poker in the Keystone State — likely alongside a connected network that includes Michigan and New Jersey, the two biggest states in MSIGA.
Rush Street Gaming, an affiliate of RSI, owns and operates two land-based casinos in Pennsylvania. Geographically, the positioning couldn’t be more ideal, as Rush Street Gaming has Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly SugarHouse Casino) and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the two biggest cities in the state, creating fertile ground for cross-promotion between BetRivers Poker and the poker rooms at the land-based casinos.
Returning to RSI — its performance in other online casino states was also impressive. According to E&K, RSI ranked fourth in West Virginia (out of ten operators), fourth in Michigan (out of 15), and sixth in New Jersey (out of 25). A ranking in Ontario was not available.
If the E&K metrics are accurate, that means RSI would have a large number of online casino players from which it could draw online poker players. That could help the company fill online tables on BetRivers Poker up faster, with excitement about the new platform only growing from there.
Delaware Players Eager to See Platform Launch
BetRivers Poker is based upon Run It Once (RIO), the online poker platform that RSI bought for $5.8 million in March 2022. The platform was originally a project of venerated online poker guru Phil Galfond.
Industry watchers have been eagerly awaiting a relaunch of the platform as BetRivers Poker ever since. So have players, especially those in Delaware, who lost access to legal real money online poker after RSI took over as the Delaware Lottery’s exclusive igaming provider at the end of 2023.
RSI likely renamed the platform as BetRivers in order to align all of its igaming products. It ditched the SugarHouse brand in Connecticut and New Jersey for that reason, but kept the brand alive in Pennsylvania — for online casino and sports betting. There is nothing to suggest at this early stage that RSI plans to roll out a product called SugarHouse Poker PA in the Keystone State.
SugarHouse Casino is also the former name of Rivers Casino Philadelphia. BetRivers Poker PA will likely operate under the land-based Rivers license in Pennsylvania — joining Borgata Poker PA.
Had the platform retained the name Run It Once, it may have caused confusion with a poker training site of the same name that’s run by Galfond.