The Delaware Lottery runs the small internet gaming market in Delaware. Online poker is separated from online table games and video lottery games, and all three are combined for monthly and yearly proceeds from online gaming.
Since all games are run by the lottery, there is no real competition in the market. There are three online casino and poker sites – one for each of the racetracks – but they operate on the same platform and share a player pool. Dover Downs and Delaware Park are the largest of the three gaming sites, with Harrington Raceway always trailing in third.
The story of Delaware online gambling is a relatively simple and positive one. The sites launched in November 2013 and started strong, lagged for a few years, and then began to climb again. The growth from 2017 to 2018 and now through 2019, however, has been slow but consistent.
None of Delaware’s online gaming revenue compares to that from a state like New Jersey, but it is a solid little market with growth potential.
Ending 2019 on an Upswing
Tracking the Delaware igaming market by quarters, the numbers show great improvements from 2018 to 2019, even for online poker.
--Q1 2019: $73,588.39 (up 35.6% from 2018)--Q2 2019: $68,251.39 (up 1.8% from 2018)--Q3 2019: $74,549.64 (up 5.7% from 2018)--Q4 2019: $74,545.21 (up 16.7% from 2018)--Total 2019: $290,934.63 (up 13.8% year-on-year)--Q1 2019 internet gaming (including poker): $842,977.74 (up 50% from 2018)--Q2 2019 internet gaming (including poker): $834,094.57 (up 56% from 2018)--Q3 2019 internet gaming (including poker): $963,704.75 (up 19.3% form 2018)--Q4 2019 internet gaming (including poker): $928,900.45 (up 35.2% from 2018)--Total 2019 internet gaming (including poker): $3,569,677.51 (up 43.3% year-on-year)
Online poker didn’t make the sizeable gains that the entire market did with online casino games, but all forms of internet gaming did improve for the year to some degree.
Year-on-Year Improvement
As noted above, the growth of the internet gaming market of more than 43% from 2018 to 2019 is significant. There is even more to be learned from the history of the Delaware market from its first full year through 2019.
Interestingly, the market has never reached the height of its first year. Despite sharing player pools with Nevada and New Jersey on the 888-WSOP platform, player participation has dropped over the years. Even so, the past several years have demonstrated a reversal of the trend, albeit a slow one. There has been some growth since 2017, which is more than can be said for the New Jersey online poker sector.
--2014 total internet gaming: $2,091,317--2015 total internet gaming: $1,798,840 (down 16.3%)--2016 total internet gaming: $2,906,885 (up 51.6%)--2017 total internet gaming: $2,391,941 (down 21.5%)--2018 total internet gaming: $2,491,129 (up 4.1%)--2019 total internet gaming: $3,569,678 (up 43.3%)
Clearly, the Delaware market has been swingy. But it seems to have found a path in recent years, one that has seen growth for the last few years and seems to be steadily growing.
https://twitter.com/DELottery/status/1213226062966132741?s=20
