NJ iGaming Posts Record Revenues in November 2015

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Tuesday, December 15th, 2015 | Written by Adam Brown

New Jersey’s iGaming industry has continued to make impressive strides throughout 2015 and in November posted revenues of $13.2 million, representing a 2.7% improvement over the previous month, and a huge 51.3% gain compared to November of last year. The online gambling numbers even managed to offset the slight 1.4% decrease reported for Atlantic City’s land-based casino revenues, so that the state’s overall gambling revenues actually finished higher by 0.9% year-over-year.

iPoker Up 4.3%

In November, New Jersey’s online poker revenues came in at $1.95 million, representing a 2.3% improvement compared to October, and higher by 4.3% year-over-year. Accounting for some of the gains is a sustained increase in traffic as a result of the June/July World Series of Poker in Nevada, as well as the traditional uptick in traffic associated with the winter months.

Leading the way was the BorgataPoker/Partypoker NJ partnership which collected $1,102,595 in November, once again outdoing the Caesars/WSOP.com/888Poker NJ partnership which generated $854,918. Interestingly, the former managed to achieve this feat despite having an average of 140 cash game players over a 7-day period, compared to WSOP/888 with 180 players over the same period.

Observers will now eagerly be anticipating the next few months’ results, wary that any downswing from the standard seasonal trend may suggest that New Jersey’s iPoker foundation could be shakier than currently assumed.

iCasinos Up 64.1%

New Jersey‘s online casinos generated a record-breaking $11.26 million last month, 2.8% higher than October’s total, and 64.1% more than November 2014. Online casinos have now reported record revenue highs for two months in a row, and for the third consecutive month in terms of growth.

iGaming Up 51.3%

After online casinos and poker revenues are combined, New Jersey’s overall iGaming revenues reached $13.2 million in November, breaking the state’s previous all-time high of $13.16 million posted in March 2015. While November’s figure was 2.8% more than the previous month, it was also a massive 51.3% more than the $8.73 million collected in the same month in 2014. Accounting for much of the growth was the fact that last November Caesars had to pay out a whopping $1.3 million won on one of its online slots.

Breaking the overall figures down, Borgata/Party generated $4,105,463 last month, including a 24% gain in its online casino vertical; with the state’s only other iPoker operation, Caesars/Harrah’s/888, generating $2,727,301 including a 10% improvement in its iCasino business. Meanwhile, Tropicana/Virgin collected $2,973,127 in revenues; Golden Nugget/Betfair collected $2,200,820; and Resorts AC produced $1,215,832 in revenues.

From the $13,222,543 in online revenues, New Jersey subsequently collected $1,989,163 in online gambling taxes.

Land Casinos Decrease 1.4%

Last month, New Jersey’s eight land-based casinos generated $191.1 million in revenues, lower by 1.4% year-over-year. Five Atlantic City casinos, however, reported revenues increases in November, with Borgata leading the market in terms of revenue, up 7.7% to $49.1 million; followed by the Golden Nugget with $44.6 million (+26.3%); Resorts Casino Hotel with $21.1 million (+16.4%); Tropicana with $14.3 million (+5.2); and Harrah’s with $12 million (+3.6%).

On the flipside, Atlantic City’s three bankrupt casinos all posted revenue decreases in November, with Trump Taj Mahal down 12.8% to $12.8 million; Bally’s down 11.7% to $15.2 million; and Caesars down 5% to $24.3 million.

NJ Gambling Industry Lower Than 2014

Including both online and land-based operations, New Jersey’s gambling industry has now generated $2.37 billion in revenues for the first 11 months of 2015, a figure that is 7.1% lower compared to the same period of time in 2014. Consequently, New Jersey is likely to suffer its ninth consecutive year of gambling revenue declines when December’s results are released.

Atlantic City’s casino industry peaked at $5.2 billion in 2006, but business has declined steadily ever since generating just $3 billion in 2014. Accounting for much of its decline has been an increase in competition coming from neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut. While Atlantic City has always been the state’s only betting destination, a five-year moratorium which sought to limit a casino expansion to other areas of the state ends in 2016. As a result, some politicians are currently pushing to have two new casinos built in the northern part of New Jersey, although others argue that the move will merely hurt Atlantic City’s own gambling industry. One such detractor is State Sen. Jeff Van Drew, who recently commented:

“I do not believe that there is any plan that can help Atlantic City and south Jersey by establishing two new casinos in the northern part of the state. I and my Assembly colleagues will fight this plan as hard as we can.”