NJ and Delaware iGaming Continues to Soar in May

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Monday, June 20th, 2016 | Written by Stephen Smith

New Jersey and Delaware’s online gambling industries have continued their unprecedented run of good fortune, and in May saw their revenues soar by double-figures compared to a year earlier.

NJ iGaming Soars 32.6%

Last month, New Jersey reported a huge 32.6% increase in online gambling revenues to $16.5 million compared to May of 2015. The only slight fly in the ointment, however, being that the figure was around $500k less than the record revenues posted in April, meaning that the Garden State was unable to extend its four-month record-breaking streak. Accounting for the lion’s share of iGaming revenues was online casinos games, which generated $13.98 million, up by 32.5% versus the same month last year. Even online poker saw its business surge by 33.3% to $2.57 million, with PokerStars continuing to dominate the iPoker market with $1.15 million in revenues.

Leading New Jersey’s internet gambling industry in terms of revenues was the Borgata Hotel Casino with $3.95 million in revenues last month, followed by Caesars ($3.25 million); Golden Nugget ($3.2 million); the Tropicana ($3.15 million); and Resorts ($3 million).

NJ Casinos Win $219.8 Million

Including revenues from brick-and-mortar casinos, New Jersey’s gambling market generated $219.8 million in May, lower by 0.6% y-o-y, with table games accounting for $53.9 million (+4.5%) of revenues, slot machines a further $149.3 million (-4.9%), and online gambling the remaining $16.5 million (+32.6%).

Just two casinos, however, reported positive revenue growth in May, including the Borgata up by 16% to $65 million, and Bally’s up by 0.2% to $18.2 million. On the flip side, the Tropicana posted a slight 2% contraction in business to $27 million, while the Trump Taj Mahal experienced a huge revenue slide of 18.2% to $15.1 million. Commenting on the figures, Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, stated:

“Gaming win fell slightly in May, but a quirk in the calendar masks the continued improvement in the revenue picture. It’s common knowledge that weekends are the busiest time for Atlantic City’s casinos and this year, May had four Fridays and four Saturdays compared to May 2015, which had five Fridays and five Saturdays. That alone is more than enough reason for a relatively flat performance for the month.”

Delaware Market Sets New iGaming Record

Similar to New Jersey, the country’s other regulated market still continuing to release monthly iGaming results, Delaware, also reported a bumper May with revenues up by an impressive 111% to $282,112 versus May 2015. That figure also represents The First State’s biggest monthly haul to date, beating the previous records set in March ($260,539), and then April ($267,801) of this year.

Generating the majority of revenues was the video lottery vertical with $187,548 in May, up by 297% from the $63,118 collected in the same month last year, and beating the previous record set in March 2016 of $154,795. Online poker,too, picked up the pace last month with revenues jumping by 2.8% to $40,337, although that tally was still significantly lower than the record high of $48,552 posted in April 2015.

Faring less well, however, was online table games which last month produced $54,227 in revenues, down by 14.1% compared to the $63,118 collected in May 2015. Table game revenues hit an all time high of $137,371 back in April 2014, less than 6 months after Delaware launched its regulated internet gambling industry in November 2013.

Delaware has three racinos currently offering iGaming options, and in May Delaware Park led the way with $133,935 in revenues, representing a 47.5% share of the state’s online market; followed by Dover Downs with $118,182 (41.9% share), and finally Harrington Raceway with $29,99 (10.6% share).

WSOP.com in Nevada Reports Traffic Surge

The USA’s other regulated online gambling market, Nevada, stopped releasing monthly revenue reports after the number of its online operators was reduced to just two. Nevertheless, WSOP.com has been experiencing somewhat of a traffic surge over the past few weeks as the annual World Series of Poker continues to gain momentum.

According to PokerScout, WSOP.com cash game liquidity is currently higher by 8% compared to the same period of time in 2015. Furthermore, liquidity is likely to increase exponentially as the marquis $10k WSOP Main Event approaches, if last year is anything to go by, with traffic reaching a 7-day peak of 223 on July 6th 2015, just one day after the 2015 Main Event got underway.