Delaware Online Poker Soars 24% In August

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Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 | Written by Charles Washington

Delaware may be the smallest of the USA’s three regulated online poker markets, but while Nevada reported a 22% fall in revenues last month, and New Jersey a slight 5% uptick, Delaware built on the 22.6% gains it made in July by returning a 24% increase in online poker revenues for August. Including all gambling games, however, The First State’s three online gambling operators generated $172,854 in revenues last month, fairly flat compared to July’s tally of $172,496.

In addition, 376 new players registered for online gambling accounts in August, down 8% from the previous month and a far cry from the 2,654 Delawareans who registered to play in November 2013.

Casino games fall 5.3% in August

Last month, Delaware‘s three gambling venues of Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington Raceway generated a combined $134,200 in online casino game revenues, 5.3% lower than the $141,698 collected in July. As a result, the state’s online casino market currently represents 77% of total iGaming revenues, down from 82% in July, and 86% in June.

Poker shows increase of 24%

In August, online poker, on the other hand, noted an impressive 24% rise in revenues to $38,655 compared to the previous month, representing a second month of solid gains for the small state of 917,000 people. The Delaware Lottery will now be hoping the state’s online poker market may finally be turning around since dropping off its peaks of $106,922 in December 2013, and $84,476 in March 2014. June then marked the lowest point in Delaware’s iPoker history with just $25,607 in revenues, before July and August saw its iPoker offering return to growth.

When making a year-on-year comparison, Delaware online poker was still up by around 8.7% on the $677,000 generated in August 2013, and helping to explain the overall improvement in its poker popularity is a number of software upgrades, such as making its platform compatible with Macintosh. That upgrade was finalized towards the end of June, after which Delaware Secretary of Finance Tom Cook, commented:

“The success of Internet gaming for the state, the casinos, and players depends on creating a fun and easy experience for everyone. We’re excited to offer an iGaming option that doesn’t require a poker download, and we’re thrilled Mac users can now participate. These enhancements to the technology and to the games themselves allow Delaware to service a whole new segment of players.”

Delaware Park leads the market

Taking Delaware’s online gambling industry as a whole, casino games, poker and video lottery revenues seem to consistently return revenues above the $172,000 mark, with the last few months’ totals as follows:

March: $206,833
April: $240,496 (peak)
May:    $175,410
June:   $187,944
July:   $172,496
August: $172,854

Consistently dominating the market has been Delaware Park, which last month generated $122,136 or 70% of the state’s total iGaming revenues, while Dover Downs collected $34,920 in revenues, and Harrington Raceway $15,797.

In terms of just online poker, Delaware Park generated $23,499 in revenues, up by 25% compared to July’s tally, and now representing 61% of Delaware’s overall iPoker market. Next, Dover Downs reported an 8% drop in iPoker revenues to $8,885, while Harrington Raceway posted $6,269 in revenues, a massive 124% improvement compared to the $2,794 the gambling venue generated in July.

Still room for improvement

While Delaware’s online poker numbers look promising, there still exists plenty of room for improvement which can only be realized once the Multi State Internet Gaming Agreement made with Nevada finally comes into effect.

Initially, it had been hoped the landmark online poker compact signed between Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval would launch by the end of this summer, but it appears both states still have a bit more work to do before their poker player combined pool can become a reality. In the meantime, Sandoval has been busy trying to encourage other US states to launch regulated online poker industries of their own, and speaking earlier this year, stated:

“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.”

This month, Morgan Stanley produced a report forecasting that a US online gambling market could be worth as much as $5.2 billion by 2020 if at least 20 other states joined Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey. That figure could then rise to more than $10 billion if Federal legislation passes, or if all the country’s 50 states decided to embrace legislation.