Nevada iPoker Revenues Hit Rock Bottom In September

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Friday, October 31st, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

Between March and October this year, Nevada reported 5 months of online poker growth, but by August that run came to a end after revenues fell by 22.5% to $742,000. Now the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) has just released its latest iPoker results for September, and once again online poker took a dive, this time falling by 6.7% to $693,000, compared to the previous month. That tally represented the lowest amount generated so far this year, and the lowest figure since the GCB started releasing its iPoker results back in February.

iPoker Revenues Drop 8.95% Y-O-Y

In addition to September revenues being almost 7% lower compared to August’s figures, online poker was also down by 8.95% year-over-year. Furthermore, the $693,000 in revenues was lower by 32.2% compared to the record $1.037 million generated in June, mostly thanks to the 2014 WSOP in Las Vegas.

Back then the state could boast an average of 200+ cash game players over a week period at Nevada’s online poker rooms, around 60% of which was accounted for by WSOP.com, with the rest preferring to play at Ultimate Poker. This month, South Point Casino’s internet poker site RealGaming.com then became Nevada’s third official poker site after completing 8 months of testing, before eventually being given the green light by Nevada state regulators.

Nevertheless, the latest traffic figures from PokerScout are nothing to write home about, with WSOP.com showing a seven day average of 90 cash game players, followed by Ultimate Poker with 60 players, and Real Gaming still showing 0 players, and just 3 players at peak times.

Quarterly Y-O-Y Numbers Increase

Worryingly, the current downward trend in iPoker revenues come at a time of the year when revenues usually increase. More optimistically, however, Nevada’s online poker sites have pulled in $2.39 million in win between July and September 2014, a 3.9% increase from the same period last year. Furthermore, the year-over-year increase rises to 212.09% when we look back over the last 12 months between October and September 2014, during which time Nevada generated $11.007 million in online poker revenues. However, before then Ultimate Poker was the only site operating in the state until WSOP.com joined the real money market in November 2013.

RealGaming.com Completes “Soft-Launch” Phase

As mentioned, South Point Casino’s RealGaming.com eventually became Nevada’s third regulated internet poker site after the Nevada Gaming Commission were satisfied the company had sorted out a number of technology issues, including those related to player verification and geolocation.

Ironically, RealGaming.com was actually the first iPoker site to be granted a remote gambling license by Nevada in 2012, and explaining the extended delay before its full launch, Jason Reynolds from pokersites.com, explains:

“The delay may have been due to the fact that, unlike its competitors, Real Gaming developed its proprietary software completely in-house, which meant it required more stringent regulatory testing. Ultimate Gaming, which beat its competitors by releasing a simple product that allowed it to get into the market first, purchased CyberArts software in order to build its platform, while WSOP.com uses software developed by 888.com.”

Casino Revenues Fall 6% To $959m

When the Silver State’s land-based casino industry is included, Nevada’s gambling market generated $901.7 million in September, a 5.96% fall compared to the same month in 2013. September’s gambling results were also lower for the second straight month, mirroring a trend being seen in the Macau market where in September revenue fell for a fourth consecutive month, with experts predicting another torrid month ahead.

In September, Nevada’s biggest market the Las Vegas Strip saw revenue drop by 12% to $495 million, compared to last year, with roulette up by 14.52% to $26.5 million, but table games down by 19.55%, and slots down 3.81% to $249 million.

Elsewhere around the state, Downtown revenues fell by 4% to $43 million year on year, and although gains were reported in Laughlin (+3.92%), Boulder Strip (+14.28%), North Las Vegas (+0.53%), and Mesquite (+1.19%), Clark County as a whole was lower by 6.84% last month.

Commenting on September’s disappointing results, Nevada Gaming Control Board senior research analyst Michael Lawton, said: “I wouldn’t say it’s cause for concern. We are facing some difficult comparisons the past two months. No reason to push the panic buttons yet.”

Nevada subsequently collected $66 million in taxes based on September’s winnings, a 5% improvement over the same period last year.