New Jersey’s regulated online casinos generated $11.8mm in revenue during the month of March, an increase of about $1.5mm over February’s totals.
That’s according to reporting released by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement.
You can view the revenue numbers to date compiled into a spreadsheet by OPR here. Official reports from the DGE are available here.
Highlights of NJ online gambling revenue for March
Poker was relatively flat month-over-month in absolute terms with a total of $3.2mm vs $3.1mm for Feb. March actually represented a drop from February’s performance in terms of poker revenue per day.
Casino picked up both absolute and relative growth in March compared to February with a total of $8.6mm vs $7.2mm in Feb.
The Borgata continues to hold the market lead with roughly a third of all March revenue ($4.39mm) in NJ. Caesars holds second place with about $3.7mm in total revenue for March.
View revenue numbers by operator to date in spreadsheet form here.
Casino revenue pulling farther away from poker in NJ
Casino continues to account for a greater and greater share of online gambling revenue in New Jersey:
As illustrated by the chart above, revenue from casino products has continued to grow month over month while poker revenue has been relatively flat. The trend is likely to continue through the summer.
Forecasting NJ online gambling performance for April
There are a variety of factors that will likely influence the direction of NJ’s online gambling revenue in April.
On the positive side:
The Borgata Spring Open / NJ Championship of Online Poker could provide a traffic boost to both poker and casino.
The ramp up of WSOP satellites could have a similar effect.
The introduction of Neteller, which allows VISA deposits at a high rate of success, could help to ease the payment processing problem.
Geo-location and payment processing should continue to improve, albeit incrementally.
The opening of the tourist season in NJ could potentially bump signups and activity.
On the negative side:
Seasonal factors will drive down participation rates in both poker and casino products.
Poker traffic is already dropping dramatically month-over-month.
The low-hanging fruit (the consumer cohort that was easiest / least expensive to reach) has already been reached. Additional customer acquisition will be more complicated and more expensive.
Land-based operators continue to appear hesitant to market online products to their full customer databases.
Liquidity sharing might become more appealing to NJ if poker decline continues
While New Jersey was conspicuously absent from the liquidity sharing agreement between Nevada and Delaware, a continued decline in poker traffic might bring about a change of heart.
New Jersey’s online poker traffic levels have been steadily dropping over the last eight weeks. And while there’s still sufficient traffic to support a variety of stakes and games, the state is drawing closer to the precarious point where online poker sites don’t have enough games to fully retain existing players or attract new ones.
Joining the agreement between Nevada and Delaware and pooling players with those two states would immediately inject a 30%+ bump into New Jersey’s player pool. The actual impact would likely be even more substantial.
