New Jersey iGaming Revenues Up 1% In February 2015

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Friday, March 13th, 2015 | Written by Lucy Brown

The last two months have seen New Jersey’s online gambling revenues return double digit growth of 63.6% in December, and 22.3% in January. February’s results, however, were significantly less spectacular with iGaming revenues rising by just 1% to $10.4 million, compared to the $10.3 million generated in the same month last year. Nevertheless, the figure was severely affected by a huge jackpot won on betfaircasino.com in February, and as Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, commented:

“The Internet gaming operations turned in a strong performance even though one lucky player hit a $1.5 million online jackpot.”

Meanwhile, Atlantic City’s eight casinos brought in a total of $178.4 million in February, lower by 14.8% compared with the same month in 2014, with the dramatic decline blamed on snow and “brutally cold temperatures.” The casinos subsequently paid $14 million in state taxes for the month.

Online Poker Down 34.2%

Online poker continues to be the least impressive part of New Jersey’s online gambling operation, and last month generated $2.05 million in revenues, down by 34.2% compared to the $3.1 reported for February 2014, and by 11.3% compared to the 2.3 million taken in January.

Online Casinos Up By 16.13%

While online poker continues to under perform, online casino games continue to drive the industry forward and in February revenues reached $8.35 million, up by 16.13% compared to the $7.19 million generated in February 2014, although that figure was 9.24% lower than the $9.2 million taken in January 2015.

Online Gambling Flat Overall

Overall, online gambling was fairly flat last month, with revenues rising by almost 1% to $10.4 million, and the casino games share of the market rising to 81.4% from 70% last February, but online poker falling to a 19.6% share of revenue from 30% in February 2014.

The Borgata/Party Poker partnership continues to dominate both the casino and poker market with a 35.9% share of revenues, while the Tropicana’s casino games only operation captured second place with a 25.2% revenue share worth $2.6 million. Meanwhile, Caesar’s Interactive (CIE) fell to third with a 23.8% market share, followed by Golden Nugget/BetFair (14.1%), although without the $1.5 million jackpot it awarded in February the operation would actually have topped AC’s casino game revenues for the month. Nevertheless, the largest jackpot ever paid out in the state’s online gambling history would have attracted a lot of positive publicity to the BetfairCasino.com site, and as the lucky winner commented after his life-changing win:

“I first heard of BetfairCasino.com on a television commercial where they were offering a generous bonus for first-time sign up. I was playing one night for about two hours, and I was ready to end my night of play and I was dealt Queen, Jack, and 10 of Diamonds. Great! I have a mini straight flush! To my amazement I was dealt the King and Ace of Diamonds. A Royal Flush! I was in total shock.”

AC Casino Revenue Declined By 14.8%

In February, Atlantic City’s casino revenues plummeted by 14.8% to $178.4 million, compared to the $209.4 million posted for February 2014 when there were still 11 casinos operating instead of just eight. Even not including the now defunct casinos, AC’s remaining casinos saw revenues lower by 1.9% compared to the $181.8 million they generated a year ago. Its also worth mentioning that land-based casinos generated $166 million from slot machines, down by $31.1 million from the $199.1 million taken a year ago, or 16% year-on-year.

Continuing to lead AC’s casino market in terms of growth was the Golden Nugget, up 22.5% to $15.9 million in February, followed by Resorts up 11.1% to $10.7 million, Tropicana up 4.6% to $22 million, and Harrah’s up 3.9% to $27.4 million. On the other side of the coin, the Borgata was down by 2.7% to $48.6 million, Caesars was down 3.7% to $24.6 million, Bally’s was down 13.6% to $14.3 million, while Trump Taj Mahal saw its revenues plunge to just $12.1 million from $22.7 million in February 2014.

Positive Start To 2015

Despite February’s mixed results, three-quarters of Atlantic City’s eight surviving casinos have reported overall growth for the first two months of this year, and as Matthew Levinson commented:

“Six of the eight casinos have reported increased gaming revenue for the two months, which I believe is an indicator of the strength of the current operators.”

Bucking the trend so far has been Bally’s (-4%) and the Taj Mahal (-22%), although the beleaguered casino’ fortunes may be about to change after a judge approved billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s reorganization plan for the venue on Thursday.

In terms of iGaming, revenues are up by 11% already this year to nearly $22 million, with Resorts becoming the latest casino to offer online gambling together with its partner Sportech NYX Gaming LLC. As Resorts CEO Mark Giannantonio said following the site’s launch:

“With SNG’s flexible gaming solutions and exclusive game content, we’re excited to introduce Europe’s industry-leading casino slots and table games to the United States market for the best online user experience.”