Nevada’s iPoker Market Reaches Record Low In November 2014

Home » Poker News » Nevada’s iPoker Market Reaches Record Low In November 2014

Friday, January 2nd, 2015 | Written by Stephen Smith

Nevada’s online poker market has continued its slide since peaking at $1,037,000 during the WSOP in June, and in November a mere $641,000 in revenues was generated by the state’s two iPoker sites, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. That figure represents a 3.61% drop in revenues compared to the previous month, and means that the Silver State has now experienced five consecutive months of decline culminating in the lowest tally yet recorded for its iGaming industry.

Once land-based casinos are included, a combined $876.3 million in revenues was generated by Nevada’s gambling industry, representing a slight 0.04% improvement compared to November 2013, and a total of $47.4 million was then collected by the state as taxes, a figure 5.16% lower than the same month last year.

iPoker Market Shrinks 38% Since June

Nevada launched its first online poker site, Ultimate Poker, back in April 2013, and was later joined by WSOP.com in September, then Real Gaming in February 2014. However, instead of acting as an inspiration for other states to adopt online gambling legislation of their own, Nevada’s iPoker market has shrunk by 38% since its peak in summer, with America’s first regulated site subsequently forced to shut shop due to a lack of profitability. As Ultimate Gaming Chairman Tom Breitling, explained in November:

“The state-by-state approach to online gaming has created an extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging operating environment. These factors have combined to make the path to profitability very difficult and uncertain. Consequently, we have decided to cease operations.”

Furthermore, Real Gaming continues to show only trace online cash game traffic, leaving just WSOP.com as the state’s only real online gaming option, albeit with a mere 140 cash game players on average over a seven-day period.

Five Months Of Decline For iPoker

Needless to say, Nevada’s online poker market is a mere shade of the $163.7 million in annual revenues forecast by global gambling data service H2 pre-regulation. Furthermore, iPoker revenues have been reaching new monthly lows since August, with 2014’s monthly revenue totals as follows:

February: $824,000
March: $926,000
April: $792,000
May: $862,000
June: $1,037,000
July: $985,000
August: $742,000
September: $693,000
October: $665,000
November: $641,000

The one glimmer of hope for Nevada is the fact contractions in its market have slowed down over the past few months, and seem to have settled on around $650,000 in revenues, with November’s 3.61% decrease a marked improvement on August’s drop of 22.5%, September’s fall of 6.7%, and October’s stinging drop of 47%. Unfortunately, there is now unlikely to be anymore iPoker results coming out of Nevada for some time, as the Gaming Control Board only provides monthly online poker results when three or more sites are operating in the state.

Land Casinos Flat In November

In November, Nevada‘s land-based casinos fared marginally better reporting a slender 0.04% uptick in revenues compared to the same month last year, ending three months of straight declines. The Las Vegas Strip, which typically accounts for more than half the state’s gambling revenues, however, was not so lucky and saw its revenues contract by 4% to $508.3 million in November, marking four months of consecutive declines. Accounting for much of November’s decline was table games which dived by 8% to $278 million, and baccarat which was also down by 1.1%. Nevertheless, baccarat’s decline could have been worse considering the Chinese government’s clampdown on high-end junket operators, and as gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski from Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets, explains:

“All things considered, we view the November results in a positive light. We believe the baccarat results confirm recent headwinds in the Macau market have not proportionately spilled over into Vegas.”

In spite of the lackluster results, the Las Vegas Strip is still only lower by 0.5% for the first eleven months of 2014 compared to the $6.5 billion the market generated for the whole of 2013, and striking an optimistic tone going forward, J.P. Morgan analyst Joe Gref said:

“We maintain our positive outlook for the Las Vegas Strip, and believe the overall recovery will continue heading into 2015.”

Clark County Up Nearly 1%

While the Las Vegas Strip suffered a 4% decline in November, as a whole Clark County reported an almost 1% improvement in gambling revenues compared to the same month in 2013. Breaking the figures down further, Downtown Las Vegas reported a healthy 12.76% increase in revenues to $42.8 million, North Las Vegas was up 37.62%, the Boulder Strip market expanded by 20.68%, Laughlin was up by 12.77%, while Mesquite also noted a 7.03% improvement in revenues.