Delaware iPoker Revenues Lowest Ever In October 2015

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Wednesday, November 18th, 2015 | Written by Shane Larson

Things seem to be going from bad to worse, as far as Delaware’s online poker industry is concerned, prompting some to believe that the state’s two year old industry may soon grind to a dying halt altogether. Although Delaware’s iPoker industry has been dismal on account of its small population of just 900,000 people, it had been hoped that the interstate player sharing pool enacted earlier this year with Nevada would have helped address that issue. That has now proved unfounded, and having plunged to an all-time low of $24,523 in September, Delaware’s iPoker industry has contracted by a further 2% to $24,030 in October, marking two consecutive record lows for The First State.

iPoker Down 16.9% y-o-y

Delaware’s three online poker operators generated a total of $24,030 in October, 2% lower than the previous month, and almost 17% less compared to the $28,465 collected in October 2014. Leading the iPoker market last month was Delaware Park with $14,832 in revenues, followed by Dover Downs ($11,249), then Harrington Raceway ($3,583).

Delaware launched its online poker industry on November 8th, 2013, and during its first seven months of operation generated $553,934 in revenue, or an average of $79,133 per month. Over the whole past 24 months, however, a total of $1,102,712 has been generated, taking the monthly average down to about $45,946. Nevertheless, that figure has only been reached in just one of the past 17 months, with the monthly average now plunging further to just $32,281. According to online tracking site, PokerScout, the combined Nevada/Delaware online poker network is currently averaging just 170 cash game players over a seven day period, the greatest number of which likely hail from Nevada.

iGaming Revenues Highest of 2015

While iPoker continues to wane in popularity, interest in other online gambling games, on the other hand, continues to surge. In fact, online lottery revenues hit an all-time high of $109,557 in October, representing four consecutive record months for the vertical. Combined with around $49,413 from online casino games, Delaware’s overall online gambling market in October was worth $183,000, marking another record for 2015. Similarly, Delawareans registered for 434 internet gambling accounts last month, once again a peak for the year, and the largest amount over the past 19 months.

2-Year Anniversary

In November, Delaware marked the 2-Year anniversary of its real-money online poker and gambling industry, and although this period has not been free from problems, there is certainly plenty to celebrate when looking viewing the big picture.

Negatives

Just like Nevada and New Jersey, Delaware had to initially contend with a number of issues related to geolocation technology, payment processing, and even just logging in to the sites. In addition, initial predictions concerning the size of Delaware’s potential iGaming market proved to be grossly exaggerated. Pre-regulation, analyst had touted $5 million as a reasonable forecast for the industry’s first year of operation, but over the past two years just $3,595,802 has been generated from the state’s three online operators. Without a doubt, the online poker vertical has been the biggest disappointment for Delaware, with even the landmark player pool with Nevada unable to stop revenues hitting an all-time low of $24,030 in October.

Positives

On the positive side, video lottery games have proved to be a greater than expected boon for the state, with revenues reaching all-time highs over the past four months, culminating in an impressive $109,557 in revenues last month. Also encouraging has been the fact more than 300 people each month continue to open new gambling accounts, ensuring a fresh supply of customers for Delaware’s sites.

In addition, Delaware‘s three casinos had initially been concerned their online operations would cannibalize land-based casinos revenues, a worry that has now been shown to be fully unfounded. In fact, there is mounting evidence to suggest that the opposite is true, with the gambling experience gained by online players more likely to encourage them to visit bricks and mortar venues.

Finally, while the Nevada/Delaware compact has so far failed to yield any discernible results, organizers behind the landmark agreement have extended an open invitation to other US states to join their shared network. This could provide the impetus for other states to come off the fence and embrace iPoker legislation of their own, and as Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval explains:

“If there are states that don’t have as sophisticated a regulatory structure as we have, that’s something we can offer. If your state doesn’t have the infrastructure, use our capabilities.”