New Jersey Internet Gambling Falls 9% In June To $9.5m

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Wednesday, July 16th, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

The latest figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) confirms that online gambling revenues are continuing their sinking ways in New Jersey, with both online poker and casino games reporting decreases in revenue for June. The Garden State first launched online gambling in November 2013, but since experiencing its first contraction in April, NJ has now experienced three consecutive months of falling revenues.

Online casino games down 9%

Throughout June, New Jersey generated a total of $9.51 million in revenues, down 9.17% from $10.47 million in May. From that tally, online casino games reported a 9% fall in revenues to $7.45 million, while poker fell by by 9.9% to $2.05 million.

Accounting for the lion’s share of NJ’s online casino market was Borgata (bwin.party) with $2.4m in revenues, followed by Tropicana (Virgin/Gamesys) with $1.72m, and Caesars Interactive (888) with $1.65m. Meanwhile, the Golden Nugget collected $710,635; Trump Plaza (Betfair) took $503,434; and Trump Taj Mahal (Ultimate Gaming) $465,640.

Online poker down 9.9%

In June, New Jersey’s three operators offering regulated online poker generated $2.05m, 9.92% less than the previous month.

Once again, Borgata (bwin.party) headed the market with $1,075,293 in online poker revenues, but June’s total was 10.9% less than May’s figures. Next, WSOP/888 also saw its revenues fall by 8.25% to $942,369; while Ultimate Poker collected a mere $30,420 in June, down 24.38% from May numbers.

Overall, Borgata (bwin.party) continues to dominate NJ online poker with a 52.50% share of market revenues; followed by WSOP/888 with 46.01%; and Ultimate Poker 1.24%. New Jersey’s third most popular poker room has now lost around 70% of its monthly ipoker revenues since March.

Igaming revenues three months of decline

Over the past three months, New Jersey has seen its nascent igaming industry already contracting, with The Garden State now having generated $63.05m in revenues over the past seven months. From that total, online casino games accounted for $46.37m in revenues, and online poker just $16.67m.

Leading the market is Borgata (bwin.party) with a 36.48% share of igaming revenues, followed by Caesar’s Interactive with 27.35%, and The Tropicana (casino games only) with an 18.17% market share.

Originally, Governor Chris Christie’s estimated igaming revenues would generate around $1 billion in annual revenues, a figure which was recently revised down to $200. However, even that amount appears inflated and NJ will be fortunate to reach more than $100 million in revenues by the year’s end.

One bright spot, however, is the fact NJ had 27,428 players signup for new accounts in June, up 7.8% compared to the previous month. New Jersey now has 378,564 accounts registered since November 2013, but with a single player potentially able to signup at 6 individual sites, the actual number of active players could be as low as 63,000.

Two-thirds of NJ land casinos to shut in 2014

Not including the Atlantic Club which closed in January, Atlantic City casinos generated $235.9m in June, up by 5.7% from the $227.1m taken in the same month last year. Most of the increase, however, was as a result of igaming revenues.

Posting the biggest monthly increase was The Golden Nugget up 34% to $14.3 million, followed by The Tropicana up 23% to $25.8 million. On the other side of the coin, Trump Plaza saw its revenues plummet by 32% to $4.7 million, The Showboat was down 16.6% to $14.1 million, while Revel fell by 1.9% to $11.3 million.

Atlantic City’s casino industry has been in decline since reaching a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006, and last year revenues dropped to just $2.86 billion. The dire situation has now forced a correction in the NJ’s gambling market, with just eight of AC’s original 12 casino predicted to survive by the end of 2014. The names already on AC’s casualty list include The Atlantic Club Casino which shut in January, the Showboat Casino expected to close this summer, the Trump Plaza Casino expected to shut in September, and Revel, which recently declared bankruptcy for the second time in the space of two years.

NJ exploring other avenues

New Jersey has seen its gambling industry decimated as nearby states, such as Delaware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland, have turned to gambling as a means of propping up state budgets. As a result, New Jersey has recently been attempting to turn its casino-centric market into a multi-faceted tourism destination. As Atlantic City mayor, Don Guardian, explains:

“Atlantic City is resilient. It’s gone from a health resort to the world’s playground with liquor during Prohibition, to a convention city and then a gambling monopoly, at least on the East Coast. It’s time to open another chapter.”