How Has NJ iGaming Changed Since Regulation?

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Wednesday, February 17th, 2016 | Written by Lucy Brown

New Jersey legalized online gambling for state residents back in 2013, and since that time the industry has seen major changes. The Garden State’s iGaming landscape looks incredibly different than it did back then, and today the number of providers has decreased from six to five. This piece provides a look at each of the operators who either previously or currently run online gaming sites in New Jersey.

Borgata

Since the very first day when iGaming sites opened their virtual doors, Borgata has led the industry. The operator partners with online gambling site bwin.party, and has dominated the industry ever since, with its online poker revenues also topping the local market each month, although only one other operator offers a poker option, namely Caesars.

In addition, Borgata has managed to be either the top or among the top two or three performers for overall online casino reviews. While many other operators have seen major changes in their operations, Borgata’s only major move was adding PalaCasino.com to its lineup in November 2014. This site is the property of the Pala Indian tribe of California and uses proprietary software while operating under Borgata’s license.

Caesars

Unlike other operators with land-based casinos that maintain different sites for each property, Caesars has opted to host with partner 888 using all three of their Atlantic Casinos, namely Bally’s, Caesars and Harrah’s. Although Caesars has enjoyed web traffic that rivals Borgata’s, they have consistently fallen behind with revenue. The company is currently in bankruptcy and is in the midst of restructuring.

Tropicana

The Tropicana casino has managed to be among the top sites for online casino games revenue since 2013. One of the most consistent revenue generators, the operator added a second website to their roster in January 2014 with the launch of VirginCasino.com.

Golden Nugget

Golden Nugget has gone through many changes since 2013. The site had numerous technical problems upon its initial launch and decided to hold off on advertising as a result. By postponing active marketing, the company was able to reduce the amount of competition that their ads faced, and the move seems to have paid off. In November 2014, the Golden Nugget added Betfair Casino to their roster, giving them a huge boost in casino revenue. Betfair ultimately closed soon after, but the Golden Nugget continues to enjoy the boost in traffic. At the end of 2015, Golden Nugget became the first New Jersey virtual casino to move to a new platform, switching from the Bally Technology/Scientific Games operating system to the system offered by NYX.

Resorts

Resorts launched in February 2015, making it a latecomer to the iGaming industry, but it has quickly become a top competitor. By July, the operator had introduced a second skin, MoheganSunCasino.com, and started generating more than $1 million in revenue on a monthly basis. This year, Resorts is expected to launch a site with PokerStars or FullTilt that will undoubtedly increase their revenues.

Trump Casinos

Trump Taj Mahal entered the iGaming market with partner Ultimate Gaming. The company focused too much on online poker and failed to generate any meaningful revenues. When the casino went into bankruptcy in September 2014, the site was closed. Trump Plaza also closed their online gaming site that month, leaving their partner Betfair free to partner with Golden Nugget.

2014 v 2015 Comparison

Prior to New Jersey launching regulated online gambling, Governor Chris Christie predicted wildly exagerrated revenue figures for the industry which have since come in at around one-tenth of his initial estimates. Rather than generating one billion dollars of revenues in its first full year of operation, the Garden state instead collected $122 million in 2014, which translated into $18.4 million in tax revenues for the state budget.

The intial disappointment has since subsided and given way to a more realsitic appreciation of the industry. As a result, the $148.8 million New Jersey collected in 2015 was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm, with that figure also representing an impressive 21% improvement on the previous year. From that amount, online casinos produced $125 million in revenues, or 84% of the iGambling market, while poker accounted for $23.8 million, or a mere 16% of the overall market. Here are the different operations’ revenue results for 2015, together with their year-on-year percentage comparisons:

Borgata: $45.7m (+3.1%)
Tropicana: $32.8m (+45%)
Caesars: $32.7m (+0.6%)
Golden Nugget: $31m (+96%)
Resorts: $6.8m (recent launch)