Review of New Jersey iPoker Rooms in Year 3

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Monday, December 19th, 2016 | Written by Shane Larson

Online poker has been legal in New Jersey for three years, and while there was a lot of positive news out of the Garden State during late 2015 and the early part of 2016, the industry did not have a big year as far as online poker is concerned. In contrast to online casino and slots games that have propelled the state’s iGambling revenues to new heights in 2016, online poker cash game liquidity has slumped, and gross gambling iPoker revenues increased only slightly versus the previous year. Still, some good things did happen, so as this year draws near to a close, let’s take a look back at some of the main events of 2016.

– November 2015 to February 2016

Normally, this time of year sees an increase in online poker play, but numbers did not increase during the period as dramatically as they have in seasons past, with liquidity only growing by 5 percent. In February 2016, Borgata announced that it was planning to cut ties with bwin.party, reportedly because it was concerned about GVC’s ability to secure a NJ online gambling license. Ultimately, Borgata stayed with bwin.party, though, as GVC had no problems securing the necessary licenses to operate in the Garden State.

– March to May 2016

PokerStars launched its New Jersey site on March 16, 2016, leading to a 10.5 percent increase in online gambling revenue for the month. By April, revenue was up by 30 percent and PokerStars had a more than 45 percent market share. Many people thought that the New Jersey online poker market was going to be forever changed for the better, but now it appears that this uptick was due more to curiosity of players wanting to try out the new site, rather than an overall resurgence in interest concerning online poker.

– June to September 2016

As of June, PokerStars’ market share had shrunk to 38.4 percent. This was partially due to the novelty of the new site wearing off, but competition played a role as well. Party-Borgata and WSOP NJ aggressively marketed their sites, and the latter operator did so well that they overtook Party-Borgata as the second most popular site in the state.

– October 2016

In October, PokerStars held a huge tournament series with a $1.2 million guarantee. The tournament was successful and the site saw its first month with revenues exceeding $1 million since its traffic took a slump in May. PokerStars also sponsored a live tournament series at the end of October that helped increase the brand’s online activity.

– November 2016

New Jersey generated $17.2 million in online gambling revenues in November, representing its second highest tally ever, with just July 2016’s figure of $17.4 million higher. Compared to the $13.2 million that was taken during the same month last year, revenues had risen by a whopping 30%.

While the online casino vertical enjoyed yet another incredible month, with revenues soaring by 34% to $15.1 million versus November 2016, online poker returned a more modest 6.4% level of grow that $2.1 million. Breaking the figures down further, the Resorts/PokerStars partnership led the way with revenues of $829k from iPoker; followed by Caesars/WSOP partnership with $632k from iPoker; and the Borgata/PartyPoker partnership with $622k from iPoker.

Final Thoughts

Overall, New Jersey’s online poker market had a decent year, though its growth rate is not matching that of brick and mortar casinos in the state. There is some hope, however, that if Pennsylvania or New York legalize online poker in 2017, then the Garden State could end up with a player sharing compact that will increase liquidity and lead to a better gaming experience for players, and therefore more revenue for operators. If that doesn’t happen, experts predict that New Jersey’s fourth year of legal online poker will be much like its third.

On a final note, some New Jersey legislators are proposing an expansion of the state’s online gambling industry by allowing horse racetracks to offer online products via special internet gambling cafes. According to their argument, both state coffers and the struggling horseracing industry as a whole stand to benefit from such an arrangement, by a cross-mixing of the industries respective customers. As Monmouth Park adviser Dennis Drazin, explains:

“This is a win-win for both the racetracks and the casino industry.. I believe this would give casinos a chance to grow their business.. You already have people there betting on horse racing. We’d be giving casinos a chance to get a regular customer that is used to gaming.”

Needless to say if such a development did take place, this could help give the state’s online poker boost a further much needed boost.