The first half of 2023 has not been the best for US igaming revenue. The still-burgeoning online poker market in the United States continues to struggle, not making the most of its interstate possibilities. But even the entirety of igaming, which includes poker and casino games, struggled in the first half of this year with the sole exception of the overall New Jersey igaming number.
Underachieving Poker
As the live poker tournament market thrives across the United States and the poker community as a whole seems to be growing, online poker is not living up to its potential.
Currently, there are only a handful of states offering state-licensed online poker, and a few more have legalized it but have no licensed poker sites to show for it.
-New Jersey (poker and casino games)-Delaware (poker and casino games)-Nevada (poker only)-Pennsylvania (poker and casino games)-Michigan (poker and casino games)-West Virginia (casino games but no poker sites yet)-Connecticut (casino games but no poker sites yet)-Rhode Island (no sites live yet)
Of these states, Pennsylvania is the largest that has yet to sign the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) to allow operators to merge their poker player pools across state lines. And three of the smallest states – West Virginia, and Connecticut – will not receive any interest from online poker operators to launch without MSIGA signed.
The creation of bigger prize pools via interstate online poker is the way for other states to see the potential of the game. Without it, poker will remain a side note to the larger igaming sector, in which states see millions in revenue from online table games and slots.
Delaware Revenue Through H1 2023
The smallest state in the online poker market started strong in January 2023 but failed to keep up that momentum. Seasonal dips became more extreme this year. Neither online poker nor the whole of the igaming sector could rise above the year’s starting point.
As for online poker, a monthly dip of more than 28% in March has yet to see a full rebound. The closest possibility was May, during which online poker grew more than 14%. Numbers are even down year-on-year for most of the first half of 2023.
The igaming sector saw a significant jump from February to March but dropped from there through June. Every month did show year-on-year growth, however.
Michigan Revenue Through H1 2023
The most consistent growth in the igaming market belongs to Michigan. The only issue with that revenue is that there is no breakout for online poker. All igaming mixes together in one revenue number, broken down only by casino/tribe affiliation. Therefore, we have no way to gauge online poker progress in Michigan.
As for igaming, it started 2023 on the right path, but like Delaware, it hit a setback in February. A huge jump ahead in March appeared to right the ship, but the rest of the first half was a struggle to stay near even.
New Jersey Revenue Through H1 2023
The place where much of today’s US igaming industry began after Black Friday stayed fairly consistent throughout the first half of 2023. It did finish the half down, but there has been more sustainability since New Jersey players began sharing prize pools with Michigan.
Online poker in New Jersey had the same dip from January to February that the other states experienced and never really came back from it. The downward trend had a few recovery months but did drop over the six-month period.
As has always been the case, online gaming as a whole hit a new all-time revenue high in March 2023 with more than $165.7M. Another good month in May, however, was not enough to save the first half from ending lower than the year began.
Pennsylvania Revenue Through H1 2023
The state that has had the roughest start to 2023 is also the one that has not signed on to MSIGA. When Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan signed it – mostly to allow Michigan and New Jersey to coordinate – Pennsylvania still-unknown reasons. Allowing its WSOP, PokerStars, and BetMGM sites to combine across state lines would have at least boosted its online poker numbers.
Instead, online poker dropped steadily through most of the first half of 2023. Not only that, the last year of revenue numbers showed year-over-year declines every month.
The entirety of the igaming sector started the year without too much of a downswing, but that changed. From April to May, the total igaming number dropped nearly 27%, an unprecedented drop for this market and one with little apparent explanation.
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