Online gambling is currently operational in only three states in America. Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware are the only states that have an operational online gambling industry. Pennsylvania approved online gambling towards the end of 2017 but operations are yet to go live. The online poker industry in the three licensed states has had its fair share of fluctuations during the last couple of years.

New Jersey and Delaware recently published their online poker revenues for 2017 and the numbers are not very encouraging for the two states.  Nevada has not released any figures to the public as of now, though it was the first to legalize online poker.

Delaware Online Poker Revenues A Cause For Concern

The Delaware Lottery is the main operator of gambling in the state. The online poker industry in Delaware generated $376,000 from online poker in 2016 and while many expected these numbers to climb in 2017, those numbers have dropped. Delaware reported that online poker revenues in 2017 dropped to $231,000 which is a 38 percent drop in revenue. Putting it into perspective, $231,000 is only 13% of what New Jersey earned in online poker in July 2017 – which was also the lowest month in online poker revenues for the Garden State.

This decline was not only in online poker revenues as Delaware’s online gambling industry in general faced a decline. The state’s main earner has been the video lottery niche but revenue from video lotteries dropped by 10% to hit $1.6 million. As for online table games, earnings dropped by 28% with only $560,000 being generated in 2017. In total, Delaware generated $2.8 million in online gambling revenue for 2017, an 18% drop from its 2016 figures.

Online Casino Revenues Up But Online Poker Declines In New Jersey

New Jersey’s online gambling results are a lot better. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement posted $245.6 million in online revenue for 2017. That is actually a jump of 25% from the state’s 2016 earnings of $196.7 million. This is the state’s fourth consecutive year of rising earnings from its online gambling industry.

The main earner for New Jersey is its online casino industry. Online casinos generated around $221.3 million in 2017, a massive 30% increase from its 2016 earnings. What is surprising is the decline in the online poker revenue. The figures show that New Jersey online poker rooms only earned around $24.3 million in 2017 which was an eight percent decline in revenues.

Many experts say that the declining online poker revenues can be blamed on the limited player pool. Both New Jersey and Delaware limit online poker rooms to their jurisdiction, meaning only players from their state can play in them. This has a noticeable effect on player enthusiasm and prize pools.

Online poker operators are trying to turn things around though. Last October 2017, Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware signed a pack to share liquidity and player pools. In addition, Pennsylvania may soon follow their lead and legalize online gambling and share liquidity. With a potential 25 million player pool, this may give all of their online poker markets a big boost.

Tags: Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Online Casino, Online Gambling, Online Poker, Pennsylvania

This entry was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2018 at 12:53 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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