The story of online poker in New Jersey resembles a roller coaster, albeit with fewer ups than downs.
Revenue may increase from one month to the next, but it is typically followed by a decrease the following month. And the numbers almost always show a year-on-year downswing, with the industry having slipped so far down that it often seems impossible for it to find its previous norm.
All the while, the overall numbers for internet gaming in New Jersey continue their continuous upswing. With very few exceptions, the revenue from the combination of all online games – including poker and slots – shows year-on-year increases of 20% or more each month. Revenue has been from $20K to $25K per month overall, and it eclipses all increases in the world of New Jersey gaming, often pulling monthly revenue up when land-based casinos show little to no progress.
As we have been doing on a regular basis, let’s take a look at the monthly numbers as just released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for July 2018 to compare them to the previous month and year.
July a Good Month for Online Poker
The seventh month of the year tends to be a good one for poker in general. Players are inspired by the World Series of Poker, and most of those who traveled to Las Vegas for the summer of poker returned home in July. In addition, the summer heat has set in, and many people in New Jersey – as in the rest of the United States – are happy enough to escape into an air-conditioned space and spend time online. Poker is the perfect way to spend those days.
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And the numbers did show that more players did just that. After a good month of May and a sizeable downswing in June, revenue was back on its way up in July.
The monthly increase was significant, though it still doesn’t reach the level of May. Moreover, it doesn’t reflect the boost in revenue that the tri-state liquidity project aimed for when it launched for Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. While only WSOP/888 can share poker players over state lines, the bump is not as significant as many had hoped.
Total Internet Gaming Always Up
Poker players may not have delivered the rake, customers seeking other online table games and slots did the job.
For the year to date, internet gaming showed revenue of more than $165.4 million, which is 16.5% beyond last year’s revenue at the end of July.
Poker Operators Await More States
Online gaming operators seem to have relegated themselves to profiting from the popular slots and other online casino games while allowing poker to hang around. There doesn’t’ seem to be any infusion of new marketing tactics or other efforts to grow the online poker vertical in New Jersey at this time.
Most likely, operators are content to wait for neighboring Pennsylvania to issue their licenses. Sites may still may be able to launch by the end of the year. Even so, there is little chance for Pennsylvania to enter the poker liquidity network until sometime in 2019, which would push the launch date for any shared player pools to 2020. At this rate, it seems that the new US market won’t see much significant growth for several years.
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