New Jersey iGaming Up 10.85% To $12.66m In April

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Monday, May 18th, 2015 | Written by Stephen Smith

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has released its latest figures for April, revealing a 10.85% improvement in iGaming revenues to $12.66 million, compared to the $11.42 million generated in the same month last year. The impressive results now represents five months of continual growth for the state’s internet gambling industry, with revenues consistently climbing higher since reaching a new record low in November 2014 of just $8.74 million. Including land-based casinos, however, Atlantic City’s overall gambling revenues were 16% lower at $198.9 million, down from the $235.9 million taken in April 2014, but striking a positive note, Matthew Levinson, chairman of the NJ Casino Control Commission, highlighted a tough comparison to last April, before adding:

“Don’t be thrown off by these results. When you look at the first four months of this year, revenues are still running 3.5 percent above last year’s levels. In addition, Internet gaming revenue continues to grow. Another clear indicator of the improving health of the industry is that five casinos hired more people in April.”

iGaming Up, Poker Down

Last month, online gambling rose 10.85% to $12.66 million year-over-year, with online casinos accounting for $10.7 million of that tally, or 84% of revenues. While casino gaming continues to propel the industry forward, however, online poker has produced far from impressive results and in April reported a 24% drop in revenues to $1.96 million compared to April 2014. For the fist four months of 2015, the Garden State’s online gambling market has produced roughly $48 million in revenues, up 19% compared to the same period of time in 2014.

iGaming Market Share

In terms of overall iGaming revenues, Borgata/PartyPoker lead the field with around $4 million in revenues, including $1,126,444 from poker, down 8.4% from the previous month. Next, Golden Nugget/Betfair partnership generated $3.3 million last month from their casino games only operation, followed by Tropicana/Virgin Casino with $2.7 million from its internet casino games. Meanwhile, Caesars Interactive (CIE) with its WSOP/888 poker network reported about $2.5 million in April, with the $858,845 collected from online poker beating CIE’s previous record low of $880,780 in November 2014. Finally, New Jersey newest casino site, Resorts, collected $212,000 in revenues last month.

Overall, Borgata/Party Poker continues to lead NJ’s internet gambling market with 31.44% share of revenues, followed in second place by Golden Nugget/BetFair with 26% and a number one position in the state’s casino games section. In third is Tropicana/Virgin Casino (21.5%), while last month Caesar’s Interactive plummeted to fourth spot (19.3%), with Caesars Entertainment’s messy bankruptcy proceedings perhaps affecting the popularity of its online operation. In last spot is Resorts (1.67%), although that could all soon change if the NJDGE eventually allows its partnership deal with Poker Stars to proceed.

AC Casinos Down 16% In April

Atlantic City’s eight casinos raked in a total of $198.9 million last month, including iGaming, representing a 16% decrease from April 2014. However, back then AC had 12 operational casinos and if the four venues which have folded since then are omitted from the results, AC’s remaining casinos actually noted a less dramatic 3% fall in business.

Disappointingly, gaming analysts had been hoping for an anticipated increase in live poker traffic from the B&M Borgata Spring Poker Series to translate into a surge of live players signing-up for accounts to play in the New Jersey Championship of Online Poker II (NJCOP II). This, however, did not come to pass and those online players who did participate at least benefited from substantial overlays in the online series.

Atlantic City’s 8 casinos were subsequently split in half between those reporting increases and decreases in revenues in April, with the venues lining up as follows:

Golden Nugget: $17.6 million (+29.7%)
Harrah’s: $29.3 million (+17.7)
Resorts: $12.3 million (+15.5%)
Tropicana: $25.2 million (+5.1%)

Borgata: $57.5 million (-2.9%)
Bally’s: $16.1 million (-3.5%)
Trump Taj Mahal: $15.5 million (-11.6%)
Caesars: $22.5 million (-33.9%)

Commenting on the Golden Nugget’s impressive growth, PlayNJ.com Spokesperson John Darr said: “Golden Nugget’s strong performance proves that regulated online gambling provides an even playing field where operators can compete to offer consumers the best product, and reap the rewards for doing so.”