Delaware iPoker Revenues Drop 19% in May Despite Nevada Compact

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Friday, June 26th, 2015 | Written by Charles Washington

At the end of March, Delaware and Nevada enacted their interstate online poker compact which it was hoped would boost Delaware’s iPoker market and ultimately encourage other states to introduce legislation of their own. After an initial surge in traffic, however, April’s revenues eventually tumbled by 35% to $48,500 compared to the same month last year, and the latest results released by the Delaware Lottery are equally as troubling, with iPoker revenues down a massive 31.7% to $39,245 in May compared to the $57,470 generated in May 2014.

Y-O-Y Versus Monthly Comparison

While Delaware’s year-over-year iPoker statistics are disappointing, June 2015 is expected to produce higher year-over-year revenues as in spite of the traditionally quieter summer months online poker revenues are expected to be greater than the paltry $25,607 in revenues produced in June 2014, which represented one of the lowest iPoker tallies ever returned by Delaware. Compared to the previous month, however, the state had at least reported three straight months of iPoker growth until May’s results stopped the run with its $39,245 in revenues lower by 19% compared to April’s tally of $48,552.

Interstate Compact Falling Short

The lower iPoker revenues come despite the recent Nevada/Delaware interstate compact which initially boosted iPoker cash game traffic from single digits to an average of 110 players, with PokerScout currently showing the Multi-State Poker Network (MSPN) averaging around 190 players over a 7-day period. Nevertheless, all is not quite as it seems as Nevada’s only viable online poker site, WSOP.com, now comes under the MSPN umbrella, and the 190 cash players it is currently showing is only slightly up on the 170 which were noted prior to this year’s World Series of Poker kicking-off in Las Vegas at the end of May.

Helping to explain the contraction in online action is the warmer summer months drawing players away from their computers to more outdoor pursuits, as well as initial excitement over the interstate compact finally waning.

Two-thirds Of Operators See Decline

In May, two out of the state’s three iPoker operators reported a contraction in growth, with just Delaware’s smallest operation, Harrington Raceway, seeing a 14.6% increase in revenues, which in real terms represented a slight increase in business from $3,286 in April to $3,765 last month. Meanwhile, the state’s biggest operator, Delaware Park, generated $29,267 in May, lower by 15.4% from the $34,590 collected the previous month, and Dover Downs saw its revenues free-fall 40.8% to $6,212 from the $10,675 it produced in April.

iGaming Market Up Overall

Despite online poker’s declining fortunes, its was not all bad news in May as Delaware’s overall iGaming market, which includes casino games and video lottery as well as poker, actually reported a slight 1.2% improvement in revenues to $133,697 compared to the $132,154 the state’s three online operators collected in April.

In direct contrast to May’s online poker results, Harrington Raceway was Delaware’s sole site to experience a decline in business, with revenues falling 26.4% to $28,190 from April’s tally. Meanwhile, Dover Downs saw its iGaming results increase by 12.3% to $39,620 last month, and Delaware Park also reported a 6.8% improvement in revenues to $73,316.

There was also further good news on the new player sign-up front, with 318 players registering for new accounts last month, 51% higher than the 210 players who did so the previous month, and the highest amount since 396 opened new online accounts in September 2014. Needless to say, these players were attracted more to Delaware’s online casino and video lottery games than its iPoker offering.

Liquidity In Poker All Important

Delaware and Nevada are not the only online poker markets in disarray, and the country’s other regulated state, New Jersey with a population of almost 9 million people, has also seen its revenues continue to slide. In fact, poker revenues fell by 15.2% in May compared to the same month in 2014, just as NJ online casino games noted an impressive 28.7% improvement over the same period.

This has lead to speculation that New Jersey may eventually be forced to consider throwing in its lot and joining Delaware and Nevada’s Multi State Poker Network, and as a recent report released by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement director David Rebuck called “New Jersey Internet Gaming One Year Anniversary – Achievements to Date and Goals for the Future”, explains:

“An important area for the future of Internet gaming is Interstate/International compacts. This type of cooperation between jurisdictions is very important for building liquidity in peer-to-peer games such as poker.”