New Jersey’s online gambling holding pattern: casino up, poker down

new-jersey-online-casino-up-poker-downNew Jersey’s regulated online gambling market snapped out of its summer lethargy in July.

The state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reported the state’s regulated online sites generated $12.5m in revenue in August, up 24.4% from the same month last year and nearly 7% higher than June 2015.

The casino vertical continued to shine, improving 34.4% to $10.6m, while poker continued to tarnish, falling 12.2% to $1.9m. For the year to date, overall online gambling revenue is up 15.6% to $84.5m.

In keeping with tradition, the Borgata/Bwin.party/Pala combo led all comers with $3.8m, up nearly 19% year-on-year and 7% sequentially. The casino vertical generated $2.8m while poker added $1m.

Caesars Interactive Entertainment New Jersey reported just shy of $2.7m, essentially flat both year-on-year and sequentially. CIENJ’s casino offering earned $1.8m while poker came in at $886k.

As for the state’s casino-only sites, the Tropicana’s $2.74m narrowly edged out the Golden Nugget’s $2.73m, with both sites improving around $200k from June’s results. Resorts Casino Hotel continued its growth in its fifth full month of operations, rising from $400k in June to $558k in July.

On Wednesday, Atlantic City event promoter MFS tweeted that the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (CCC) had granted Resorts’ request to transfer its internet gaming assets to a new entity, Resorts Digital Gaming LLC.

Resorts, whose online casino platform is supplied by NYX Gaming Group, has a prospective online poker deal with Amaya Gaming’s PokerStars brand, which has been impatiently awaiting the DGE’s regulatory approval. While DGE boss David Rebuck was in attendance at Wednesday’s hearing, he offered no comment on the approval progress. Amaya, which releases its Q2 earnings on Thursday, has said it expects to get the DGE’s okay sometime this quarter.