New Jersey’s regulated online gambling market failed to set another monthly revenue record in April as poker continued its inexorable decline.
Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) showed the state’s regulated market generated revenue of $12.7m in April, up 11% over the same month last year. However, the figure is $500k less than the monthly record set in March.
Online poker continued to retreat, generating just under $2m in April. That’s down 9% from the previous month and down 23% from April 2014. The casino vertical generated $10.7m, down 2% from the previous month but up more than one-fifth year-on-year.
The Borgata/Bwin.party/Pala Interactive combo retained its market leading position, earning just under $4m, down $200k from March. The Borgata’s casino vertical generated $2.9m (-3%) while poker contributed $1.1m (-10.5%).
Amazingly enough, April brought a change to the state’s traditionally carbon-frozen rankings, as the Golden Nugget’s casino-only site generated revenue of $3.3m, up 10% from the previous month and nearly six times more than the site earned in April 2014.
The Tropicana’s casino-only site moved into third spot with revenue of $2.7m, despite the fact that this figure represented a 10% decline from the previous month. That said, the figure is up more than a quarter year-on-year.
The chart fluctuations came courtesy of a dismal performance from Caesars interactive Entertainment, which slipped to the number four spot with $2.45m in total revenue, down 12.5% from the previous month and off 17% year-on-year. Casino revenue fell 16% year-on-year to $1.6m while poker tumbled over 41% to $860k.
Resorts Casino Hotel, the state’s newest online operator, reported revenue of $213k, up nearly 50% from March’s total. Resorts’ offering is, for the moment, casino-only, but the company’s director of interactive market Lee Terfloth recently told eGR North America that the company was “fully committed” to its deal with the world’s number one online poker operator PokerStars. Both Resorts and Stars’ owner Amaya Gaming are anxiously awaiting word on whether or not the DGE will approve Stars’ long-delayed online license application and Terfloth said the casino had “no Plan B” if Stars’ application was rejected.
