New Jersey’s online gambling market continues to gobble monthly revenue records like salted peanuts, thanks to the seemingly unstoppable online casino vertical.
Figures released late last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s licensed online gambling operators generated combined revenue of $41.1m in August, up nearly two-thirds from the same month last year and nearly $2m higher than the previous high-water mark, which was set this July.
The new record came despite the increasingly irrelevant online poker vertical posting a nearly 6% year-on-year decline to just $1.7m, spoiling an exceedingly rare two-month streak of modest annual improvements. The online casino vertical showed no such rust, rising 71.4% year-on-year to a record $39.4m.
For the year-to-date, total revenue is up 56.6% to $297.9m, with the casino vertical rising 61.6% to $283.45m and poker falling 2.5% to $14.43m.
The Golden Nugget’s reliable online casino juggernaut was also in record-busting mode, coming in just under $15m, up 83.4% year-on-year and around $100k higher than its previous record set this July.
It was a dog fight for August’s runner-up status, with Resorts Digital coming in at $7.45m (of which $593k came via PokerStars’ poker operations), while the Borgata family of sites wasn’t far off the mark with $7.13m ($411k from poker). Caesars Interactive Entertainment’s nearly $5m was good enough for fourth place, while claiming a market-leading $704k from poker.
As for the casino-only also-rans, the Tropicana had a solid month with $4.06m. The Hard Rock Atlantic City family of sites – which now includes UK giant Bet365 and the Kindred Group’s Unibet brand – reported revenue of $2.13m, an impressive 343% year-on-year improvement.
The struggling Ocean Casino Resort was the only online licensee to report negative growth in August, falling 3.7% year-on-year to $371,622. The OCR is unique among New Jersey’s online licensees in that it has no other operators piggy-backing on its operating license.
