The operators of Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino have become the latest operator to soft launch in New Jersey’s online gambling market.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA), which also operates the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Pennsylvania, manages the operations of Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel. As such, the MTGA has launched its MoheganSunCasino.com site under Resorts’ license, sharing the NYX Gaming Group platform that powers the ResortsCasino.com site, which launched this spring.
The MTGA’s site is still awaiting the official go-ahead from the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), which could come as early as Wednesday. The MTGA will then become the second tribal gaming operator to operate a New Jersey online site, following Pala Interactive’s launch late last year.
The MTGA has no current plans to offer online poker in New Jersey, which is probably for the best, given the ever-declining state of the vertical, which posted record low revenue of just over $1.8m in June. The casino vertical has fared far better, rising 32% year-on-year last month. Resorts has a pending online poker deal with Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand, which is still awaiting a favorable nod from the DGE.
It remains to be seen how much of a splash the MTGA’s site will make in New Jersey’s market. Since its first full month of operations in March, the ResortsCasino.com site has seen its monthly revenue rise from $154k to $400k in June. The MTGA is banking on the popularity of its Mohegan Sun brand, which the company claims has even better recognition than the Borgata, AC’s perennial market leader in both land-based and online revenue.
This week saw the MTGA release its fiscal Q3 projections, which indicate revenue coming in between $318.5m and $331.5m for the three months ending June 30. That represents either a 2% decrease or a 2% gain compared to the same period a year ago. Slots revenue is expected to be either flat or up 4% while table games are expected to fall between 1% and 5%. However, net income is expected to come in between $27.1m and $28.2m, roughly twice the sum earned in Q3 2014.
