How Have NJ iPoker Sites Fared Since Regulation?

Home » Poker News » How Have NJ iPoker Sites Fared Since Regulation?

Thursday, December 24th, 2015 | Written by Shane Larson

November 2015 marked the second year anniversary of the legalization of online poker in New Jersey. While overall, many people were disappointed with the amount of revenue that sites in the Garden State generated, there have been a number of positive improvements in the online poker market within the state since regulation. As a result, many industry experts believe that better days are ahead for online poker sites operating legally in the state.

Current State of the Market

Although the market has evolved since December 2013, Borgata has remained the leader in the iPoker market in New Jersey every month. The closest that competitor Caesars has ever come to rivaling the success of Borgata occurred in May 2015, but Borgata still trumped Caesar’s numbers by 13.7 percent. Overall, Borgata accounts for 53.9 percent of all online gaming revenue in New Jersey, while Caesars brings in 45.1 percent of revenue. The remaining 1.1 percent was earned by Ultimate Poker, an operator no longer in business in the state.

Generating Interest Proves Difficult

Online poker sites have made numerous attempts to draw more players to their virtual tables, trying various online poker promotions, different types of tournaments and tie-ins between land-based casinos and online poker play. None of these attempts have had a major impact on any operator’s market share, although a few events did slightly disrupt the balance during the last 2 years.

– From January to February 2014, Borgata saw their market share lead reduced from 9.4 percent to 3.1 percent as 888 offered an 80 percent rakeback promotion; however, once the promotion ended, Borgata regained most of their share.

– The online Garden State Super Series that tied into the Borgata Poker Open at the Borgata Casino helped Borgata increase their market share from 51.9 percent to 55.8 percent in September 2014. Additional quarterly promotions in 2015 further increased their market share modestly.

– When the WSOP is being held in Las Vegas, WSOP/888 sees a small increases in their market share. In June 2015, their share went from 43.1 percent to 48.2 percent.

Liquidity Less Important Than Believed

In January 2015, WSOP and 888 made an agreement to partially share their player pool, leading industry experts to speculate that the sites would be positioned to increase their market share. However, this has not proven to be the case, and there are a number of reasons why the increased player pool may not have had the intended impact, including:

– Party/Borgata tends to attract more grinders who play at higher stakes tables, making them more profitable.

– The rake cap is higher on some stakes at Party/Borgata, attracting more high rollers.

– Party/Borgata offers more large event tournaments with higher guarantees.

What’s Ahead

While online poker as a whole is doing better in New Jersey thanks to improvements in payments and software, industry insiders don’t expect any major changes in market share to occur until PokerStars officially begins operating in the state. PokerStars was initially shut out of the US market in 2011 for contravening the UIGEA, but the world’s biggest poker site was finally granted an iGaming license after being purchased by a new owner, Amaya Gaming. The news is undoubtedly one of the top poker stories of 2015, and after receiving a license in October, Amaya CEO David Baazov stated:

“I want to thank the DGE for their thorough and fair review of our business. We look forward to bringing our popular brands, innovative technology, marketing prowess and world-class security and game integrity to the growing New Jersey online gaming market.”

Working in partnership with Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel, PokerStars’ New Jersey site is expected to launch sometime in the first half of 2016. Although Resorts does not currently offer online poker, the operator’s online gambling revenues managed to exceeded $1 million in November, which is impressive considering that the site only launched in February. That figure is only set to grow exponentially after PokerStars launches in state.

The recent changes made by PokerStars to its VIP program are also designed to attract greater numbers of recreational players back into the game, with most of the rewards being siphoned away from the site’s legion of professional online grinders. However, it is possible that PokerStars’ entry into New Jersey may not have the major impact that everyone is anticipating, especially with the prospect of less and less players being able to earn an income from the game.