Internet gambling revenue in Atlantic City has reached its highest level ever.
According to a state report released Monday, the city’s casinos reported web gaming win of $11.9 million in March. That figure was a 15.2-percent increase compared to the $10.3 million in February. Revenues have steadily been climbing since the games launched late last year.
Of the $11.9 million, around $3.2 million came from online poker. Poker was $3.1 million of the figure in February. Poker increased in size, but decreased in its piece of the overall pie.
For comparison with Nevada: The Silver State’s poker sites captured $824,000 in rake from online poker in February. Nevada’s numbers from March aren’t yet available.
According to Adam Krejcik of Eilers Research, the New Jersey market size for the year is on pace to be around $142.5 million. At one point in the not-so-distant past, some state officials in New Jersey were thinking that online gaming could be worth $1 billion in the first year.
That outrageous estimate was eventually debunked.
As of Mar. 31, nearly 292,000 Internet gaming accounts had been created since the beginning of soft play on Nov. 21, 2013. At the end of February, there were 248,241 accounts.
The number of New Jersey web gaming accounts doesn’t refer to the number of unique players, as customers can sign up for an account at each Internet gaming website.
The Garden State report also included mention that total gaming win from the brick-and-mortar casinos and their Internet gaming operations was $233.4 million in March. That was a 2.2-percent decline compared to the $238.5 million in casino win for March 2013.
It is worth noting that there was one fewer casino this March.
Atlantic City was in the national spotlight this past weekend, as one of its casinos sued poker pro Phil Ivey in an effort to recoup $9.6 million. The casino said Ivey and his gambling companion cheated while playing high-stakes baccarat in 2012.
