Rush Street Interactive (RSI) has been quietly working behind the scenes on its real money online poker platform for more than two-and-a-half years.
BetRivers Poker has been in development by RSI since March 2022, when the Chicago-based company plunked down $5.8 million to acquire what was then Run It Once Poker, a project of online poker guru Phil Galfond.
To date, RSI has revealed few details about the platform. Even the timeframe for a launch is uncertain — with many pundits expecting the launch of BetRivers Poker sometime in early 2025.
On the other hand, news that the platform had already advanced to an expanded closed soft launch suggests BetRivers Poker could launch before year’s end.
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Regardless of when the platform finally launches, it will be the newest option for real money online poker in the US. And while RSI has provided few details about BetRivers Poker, some details have already emerged.
Here are five things we now know about BetRivers Poker:
1) BetRivers Poker Will Offer MTTs
Multi-table tournaments (MTTs) will be available on BetRivers Poker when it goes live. Screenshots of the test client from the closed soft launch show tournaments are now part of the platform.
It has long been assumed that BetRivers Poker would support MTTs, but never officially confirmed. Jason Senti, Head of Run It Once poker, said back in March 2022, when RSI acquired the Run It Once platform, that MTTs were expected to be included as part of its future offering to players.
Run It Once Poker did not support tournaments, but engineers were working to add tournaments to the platform at the time it was acquired by RSI.
Support for tournaments is considered an essential component of today’s real money online poker platforms.
2) BetRivers Poker Will Have a Mobile App
A dedicated mobile app was another project in the works at Run It Once Poker, but it wasn’t completed before the RSI acquisition. A BetRivers Poker app will become a reality in Pennsylvania.
The expanded closed soft launch in Pennsylvania was available to players on both mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop (Windows and Mac).
RSI likely devoted much of its energies into building a BetRivers Poker app to compete with the likes of BetMGM Poker, PokerStars, and WSOP.
Officials with the Delaware Lottery, which picked RSI as its exclusive igaming provider in 2023, confirmed that the Lottery and RSI were “planning to launch new online gaming sites and apps as soon as possible.”
3) BetRivers Poker Will Have Avatars
Avatars were a very popular feature on Run It Once Poker, and they’ve been carried over to BetRivers Poker.
Before its acquisition by RSI, Run It Once Poker had developed Dynamic Avatars, a feature that gives a player’s avatar an expression based on the player’s recently observed playing style. The feature was considered an advancement in the area of avatars when it debuted with Run It Once Poker.
Earlier this year, an eponymously-named documentary about Galfond included a brief snapshot what was likely a beta version of BetRivers Poker. It included avatars like the ones created by the Dynamic Avatars feature.
4) Run It Once Poker Will Launch in Pennsylvania
At this stage, a launch in Pennsylvania appears further along than in any other state.
A spokesman for the state regulator confirmed in early September that the platform was undergoing a closed soft launch — with testers likely invite-only VIPs.
Later in September, the closed soft launch was reportedly expanded to include newly-registered Pennsylvania poker players playing for real money.
Speculation has always been high that RSI would launch BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania, despite it being a segregated market.
Consider that the operator is already live in the state with online casino and sportsbook, and has additional leverage through two land-based casinos in major cities at opposite ends of the states — Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
5) There Could Also be SugarHouse Poker PA
Remember SugarHouse Casino? That was the first name for a land-based casino in Philadelphia built on the site of a former sugar refinery that first opened in 2010 — hence the name. SugarHouse. Rush Street Gaming, an affiliate company to RSI, rebranded the facility as Rivers Casino Philadelphia in 2019.
RSI has two igaming brands in Pennsylvania — BetRivers, its flagship brand, and SugarHouse. The Keystone State is the only jurisdiction with the SugarHouse brand, although it was at one point live in New Jersey and Connecticut, too. The company rebranded its operations in the Garden State as BetRivers in October 2022, and exited sports betting in Connecticut in mid-2023.
Screenshots taken during the course of the closed soft launch period show there may be a product called SugarHouse Poker PA. It will likely launch in Pennsylvania alongside BetRivers Poker PA, with the two brands sharing an in-state player pool.