Now well into their second year of operation, the revenues for the online gaming industry in New Jersey are still presenting a mixed bag of results. In some areas, the industry seems to be performing strongly while in others the numbers just don’t seem to be coming to the game.
April brought an increase in revenues when compared to those just one year ago. The online gaming sites in New Jersey were able to pull in a $12.7 million “win” rate for April 2015, outpacing the results of $11.4 million from the year previous. That 11.1% increase seems to have been driven by the casino side of the ledger, however, rather than the online poker side of the operation.
Of the revenues pulled in during April, online poker couldn’t even crack the $2 million mark, continuing a 2015 trend that has to have some nervous. In the previous three months (compared with their 2014 revenues), online poker’s performance has fallen by more than 30% in year-to-year comparisons. With the summer months arriving – as well as the World Series of Poker – it could be very difficult for online poker to make any significant rebound in the next few months.
Even with the issues plaguing online poker, the overall New Jersey online casino scene seems to be a thriving one. Year to date figures for the New Jersey online poker industry show $47.8 million in revenues, up from $43.1 million during the same January to April period in 2014 (online poker, alas, has earned only $8.6 million in the four month period; in 2014, the revenues from online poker were $12.4 million). That is a decent 11% increase in its own right and something that New Jersey regulators and operators can hang their hat on.
The dichotomy between the two worlds – why is casino gaming doing vastly better than online poker? – could be explained by the nature of their situations. With casino gaming, it is normally an entertainment pastime, one in which players may pop online for a few minutes of fun while passing time in traffic or waiting for a meeting to start (heck, maybe even doing it during the meeting). Casino gaming, be it slots, roulette or even blackjack (for some people), is also usually a situation that a player doesn’t have to invest a huge amount of mental acuity in to be successful.
Online poker, however, is a different beast altogether. Perhaps because of its perceived history in the United States – during the mid-2000s, many were able to sit in their homes and earn a decent living from playing online poker – poker demands more time to earn a winning session. To be a winning poker player, there is a great deal of study that must be put into the game, something that many might not be willing to do in New Jersey just to play. There is also the question of the limits that have to be played – whether a player can “beat the rake” – to ensure that a session is profitable.
This isn’t even beginning to broach the subject of what MIGHT happen in the New Jersey online poker industry. Still waiting in the wings for licensing is the powerful PokerStars/Amaya Gaming partnership that could do one of two things to the market. At one point, the arrival of PokerStars (which has been rumored now for several months) would bring a host of players back to the virtual felt in the Garden State, increasing the revenues and lifting all the other online poker rooms as players come back to the game. The second point would be that PokerStars, once it goes live in New Jersey, would simply cannibalize the other rooms that have been in existence, keeping revenues either flat or causing an actual decline in the revenues for the entirety of the industry.
While the overall numbers for online gaming in New Jersey are solid and appear to be growing, there have to be some concerns over the performance of online poker in the state. It is true that the B&M casino is driven by the slots and other table games that are offered, but poker is an outstanding method for bringing newcomers to the buildings in the first place. If there isn’t new blood coming in, then problems could be on the horizon.
