Borgata Poker Director Kellie de Celis Leaves After 12 Years

Borgata Poker Operations Director Kellie de Celis announced on Wednesday that she is leaving the company in a farewell message. According to her LinkedIn profile, de Celis worked in this role for 12 years. Players reacted to the news with surprise and sadness. Ryan Eriquezzo called it a major loss for Borgata, while Ari Engel said de Celis will be greatly missed. Reactions on Reddit were more mixed. Some users argued that de Celis's emphasis on tournaments was to the detriment of the cash game room.

Borgata was perhaps the most important poker room on the East Coast. The MGM Resorts property has a 52-table cash game room and has hosted the region's biggest tournaments. For many years, it partnered with the World Poker Tour. Atlantic City, where poker once thrived, now has only three poker rooms left: Borgata, Tropicana and Harrah's. Local reports say the rooms are quiet on weekdays and busier on weekends. This picture reflects several factors affecting the city as a whole.

Reaching Atlantic City is difficult. Often, it requires flying to Philadelphia first and then taking another form of transport to the city. The spread of retail and tribal casinos has also made the trip less worthwhile. Online gambling in New Jersey has been a lifeline for the struggling city. However, this market is gradually shrinking. Of the 13 casinos operating at the same time, only nine remain.

Borgata is feeling this pressure as well. The main event of the Winter Poker Open festival, held in January, a 3,500 dollar championship, had a 3 million dollar guarantee. However, the organizers received only 895 entries. Although the amount collected exceeded 3 million dollars, that figure includes the rake. If a standard industry rake had been applied, a shortfall of roughly 115,000 dollars could have occurred.