New Jersey iGaming Growth Continues Into August

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Monday, September 15th, 2014 | Written by Stephen Smith

The slower online gambling summer months are now in New Jersey’s rear view mirror, and after three months of falling revenues the state has followed up July’s positive growth with a slight 5% improvement in revenues for August, too. Not including iGaming revenues, however, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos operating last month won $294.4 million from gamblers, a 1.2% decline compared to the $298 million generated in the same month a year ago.

Online casinos up 4.7% in August

New Jersey generated $10.547 million in iGaming revenues in August, up 4.73% from the the previous month, with online casino games providing the bulk of revenues at $8.29 million, up by 4.7% over July’s tally of $7.923 million.

Continuing to lead NJ’s online casino market was Borgata (bwin.party) which took in $2,309,337 (+10.3%) in August, followed by Tropicana (Virgin/Gamesys) with $2,264,576 (+13.3%) in revenues, and Caesars Interactive (888/WSOP) a good way back with $1,644,620 (-3.6%). Next, the Golden Nugget generated $787,838 (-17.6%) from casino games, with Trump Plaza collecting $709,674 (+4.9%) and in last spot Trump Taj Mahal (Ultimate Gaming) with $579,496 (+3.3%).

Online poker better by 4.9%

New Jersey’s three casinos offering online poker took in $2.25 million in August, a 4.9% improvement over the previous month. Once again, Borgata (bwin.party) held its position as market leader with $1,167,963 (+5%) in iPoker revenues, followed by Caesars Interactive (888/WSOP) with $1,060,855 (+5%), while Trump Taj Mahal (Ultimate Gaming) took in a mere $23,099 (-11.3%) from online poker in August.

As a result, Borgata and Caesars Interactive continue to divide the spoils of New Jersey’s iPoker industry fairly evenly, holding a 51.86% to 47.1% split during August, and a 52.13% to 45.71% split for the whole year so far to date. Meanwhile, Trump Taj Mahal (Ultimate Poker) has seen its market share recede further, while Trump Entertainment Resorts (BetFair) generated $0 from online poker in August. With Trump Entertainment Resorts’ two AC casinos shutting this year, both Ultimate Poker and BetFair will come under further pressure as they seek to find another casino to partner with in order to continue their iPoker operations.

More NJ players sign up for accounts

A total of 25,687 New Jersey residents signed up for new online gambling accounts last month, representing a 6.5% improvement over July’s tally. Overall, 431,617 accounts have now been established since the first site launched in November of 2013, although it should be noted that a single player can hold up to six different online gambling accounts, meaning the number of active players could be as low as 72,000.

Atlantic City casinos decline by 1.2%

Atlantic City’s land based casinos generated $294.4 million in revenues last month, a 1.2% decline from the $298 collected in August 2013. Nevertheless, AC’s casino market has been shrinking recently and when one takes the Showboat, and the Atlantic Club out of the equation, both of which have now been shut, and add Atlantic City’s online gambling operation, then The Garden State’s gambling market generated $6.9 million (+2.3%) more revenues than August 2013.

Leading Atlantic City’s casinos market last month was the Borgata which won $65.9 million, up 5.2% over the $62.5 million taken during the same month last year; followed by Caesars Atlantic City which generated almost $44 million in win, up from $38 million last year.

The biggest improvement in revenues came from the Tropicana, which noted a 46% increase in revenues to $31.3 million in August; with The Golden Nugget up 34% to $16.7 million. On the other side of the coin, the Trump Plaza saw its revenues plummet by 45% to $4.8 million, while Revel was also down by 40.6% to just under $5 million.

Changing landscape

As well as AC’s casinos market expected to shrink to just seven operations by the end of 2014, there are a number of other developments taking place which have the potential to dramatically alter the state’s gambling industry. One is a possible interstate compact between New Jersey and Nevada/Delaware at some stage in the near future, and another is a surprise move by Governor Chris Christie this week to reverse course and go ahead with legalizing sports betting. A previous ruling by the United States District Court subsequently barred the state from issuing sports betting licenses, but Christie has now decided to plough ahead anyway, and as analyst Blayne Davis, explains:

“They [US Government] will not endorse it or make policing it a priority. Economic reality will prevail and I believe several states will follow. It will be akin to their stance on recreational marijuana in Colorado.”

A further development is the apparent imminent arrival of PokerStars in New Jersey’s iGaming market, with confirmation expected to come in the next few weeks. As New Jersey State Sen. Ray Lesniak commented to PokerNews, recently:

“It’s going to be soon and it’s going to be huge. PokerStars is going to make a huge investment in Atlantic City, not just in Internet gaming but in their brand and in bringing attractions to Atlantic City.”