The big picture shows overall growth. It usually does. When looking at the state-regulated online poker market in the United States – currently functioning in Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Michigan, and Pennsylvania – revenue increased from the first half of 2021 to the first half of 2022.
Of course, there are caveats.
Nevada doesn’t report its online poker revenue publicly, so we have no idea how much to allocate there.
Michigan doesn’t separate its online poker revenue from the rest of its online gaming. This means we have no idea as to the health of the Michigan ipoker in and of itself.
New Jersey appears to be the only state (with the exception of the unknown entity that is Nevada) in which online poker revenue fell year-over-year for the first half. Online gaming as a whole, though, gives it the boost it needs for igaming to increase.
Nevada and New Jersey share a player pool. Delaware shares in that pool, though it cannot award World Series of Poker rings or bracelets like the other two states. It’s complicated. And since WSOP-dot-com is the only site operating in all three states, it is the only one with interstate play. And Michigan is now a part of the multi-state online poker compact…but it has yet to link its sites across state lines. Pennsylvania simply hasn’t signed the agreement yet to get that process moving.
Connecticut and West Virginia legalized online poker but have yet to issue a single operator license for those games in their respective states.
All of this to say that the state-regulated online poker market could be bigger and more profitable in America. If and when that happens, when they claim the potential that is out there, other states will see the benefits to offering poker online more clearly.
Let’s look at individual states.
Connecticut: January-June 2022
The state of Connecticut legalized state-regulated online poker in May 2021. There has yet to be a single online poker operator announce a partnership with a land-based casino in this state.
Delaware: January-June 2022
A few consecutive months of online poker revenue increases in Delaware were indicative of the life of this tiny market. The numbers for the first half showed it, as online poker grew 3.3% year-over-year (to $228,344). This chart shows the monthly progression of that growth.
Online gaming as a whole grew more significantly in Delaware. The first six months of 2022 showed 27.7% growth (to $6,406,514) from the same period in 2021.
Michigan: January-June 2022
The Michigan Gaming Control Board does not separate online poker revenue from the rest of internet gaming.
We can show the growth of the entirety of this emerging market, one that has shown its potential with nearly every increasing month of revenue. However, for now, there appears to be a high point that Michigan cannot cross. After a record month of $132.5M in April, total gross receipts fell 3.8% in May and 4.6% in April.
Even so, the first half of 2021 shows 56.7% growth (to $757,024,181) over the first half of last year. That is overall igaming, but considering the market is still finding its way, improvement is there.
Nevada: January-June 2022
Same story, new month. There is still only one online poker site regulated by the state of Nevada. Therefore, Nevada does not report its online poker revenue, so the WSOP does not reveal numbers to the public.
New Jersey: January-June 2022
Online poker is a strange beast in New Jersey. While other forms of online gambling rise almost unfailingly, poker struggles to stay even. The market loses ground on a fairly consistent basis, only having been bolstered in recent years by pandemic-inspired business. Since then, however, poker revenue dropped somewhat consistently. From May to June, it dropped another 5%.
To be fair, the entire igaming market in New Jersey dropped 2% from May to June. That is a rarity, but it can happen.
But looking at the first six months of the year, New Jersey is the only state that saw a revenue decrease year-on-year. It was nearly 6% (to $14,076,797) for online poker only.
That was only made more significant by the overall igaming first-half numbers that reflected 28.4% growth. The market, as a whole, continues to grow beyond most expectations.
Pennsylvania: January-June 2022
While online poker has been on a bit of a downswing – for example, a 7.5% dip from May to June – it is not out of step with the igaming market for Pennsylvania as a whole. That same monthly change was a 9.2% drop for all of igaming.
As for year-on-year growth, though, it is there. The first six months of 2022 showed significant online poker improvement of 18.6% (to $17,835,467).
The entirety of igaming grew 22.2% (to $658,187,416) for the first half. For online poker to be just a few points under all of internet gaming for the state, it shows potential for this market with poker as a big part of it.
West Virginia: January-June 2022
The state of West Virginia legalized state-regulated online poker in March 2019. There has yet to be a single online poker operator announce a partnership with a land-based casino in this state...more than three years later.
