Spirits dampen as New Jersey shows its first decline in online gambling revenue since its inception.
A recent report shows that New Jersey online gambling revenue, previously on a straight climb upward, has taken a downward turn in the month of April. While revenue in March was $11,878,374, April's revenue was $11,428,737 - a decrease of $400,000. While the decrease is relatively not a lot, it seems to have put a damper on New Jersey's optimistic forecast for the future on online gambling.
Operators
Different operators in New Jersey experienced different results in April. Borgata, partnered with bwin.party, saw a decrease in revenue from $4.39 million to $4.11 million; most of the loss was traced back to poker. Caesars, partnered with 888, also saw a decrease in revenue, from $3.71 million to $3.05 million.
On the other hand, Tropicana, partnered with Virgin/Gamesys, reported a 10% increase, and Trump Plaza, partnered with Betfair, almost doubled their revenue, going from $509k to $926k.
While some casinos lost and some casinos gained, it seems that the ones that gained did so at the expense of their competitors. In other words, they did not reach out to a new audience; rather, the same audience who has been taking advantage of online gambling just switched operators.
The Forecast for May
As of now, May traffic seems to suggest that there will be a similar drop in revenue, also due to the lack of poker play. The New Jersey report predicts that 888 Poker and Ultimate Poker will be hit the hardest, and that Ultimate Poker will eventually shut down. 888 Poker is owned by the same casino as WSOP, which still remains popular and thus gives some hope.
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