Last week, Delaware became the second state in the U. S. to open the doors to its intrastate online casino gaming network and, from all apparent reports, the “soft” opening has been a success that will lead to the full rollout next week.
The “soft” opening, which occurred on Halloween, allowed a limited number of people to access online casino gaming (including poker) offered through the sites that are maintained by Delaware’s three racetrack casinos (Dover Downs, Delaware Park and Harrington Raceway). Approximately 75 people have been allowed to play on the site over its first few days and that “test” phase is expected to last until Friday (November 8). On that day, the gates will truly open up as Delaware’s system officially goes live.
Delaware’s regulations for online gaming are much like those for those in the other state that offers some sort of online gaming, Nevada. Players must be registered with one of the three sites offering Delaware’s gaming and, through geo-location of their computers and smartphones, have to be located physically in the First State. Once a player has cleared the regulatory issues, they will have online poker, blackjack, roulette and slots available for real money play (unlike Nevada, which currently only offers online poker).
According to Chris Barrish of the Wilmington News Journal, Delaware officials aren’t looking for a windfall from their online operations. During the current fiscal year, Barrish reports that officials are looking to only make around $5 million, a drop in the bucket compared to the $176 million that the “brick and mortar” casinos are expected to bring in by June 30 of next year. What the state is truly looking to tap into are players between the ages of 28 and 35 that don’t normally frequent casinos in the state.
“This is another chapter in Delaware’s history of staying competitive in the gaming industry,” Thomas Cook, the state of Delaware’s Finance Secretary, stated to Barrish. “It is something that has to grow, but we’re in a fiercely competitive environment here. This is just one more opportunity for entertainment.”
Cook is also aware of some potential pitfalls that may come with the new offering. The state will monitor the numbers closely to make sure that online gaming isn’t sacrificing traffic to the three Delaware casinos and, if that happens, Cook indicates that the state will “step back” and reanalyze the situation.
One top poker professional is anxiously looking forward to seeing what Delaware has to offer. Jennifer ‘Jennicide’ Leigh, long one of the top online and live poker players in the business, said to Barrish she was “devastated” when the April 2011 crackdown of the three major online poker sites in the industry (now known as “Black Friday”) took away internet play from Americans. “I am actually looking forward to checking it out” when she returns home to Delaware in November, Barrish quotes Leigh as saying. “I am curious to see how it will be facilitated and marketed,” Leigh said.
Leigh also points out the significant issue that is facing the Delaware online gaming industry, however. “If you’re only playing against people in one state, I can guarantee that in three to four months it will look like a ghost town,” Leigh said to Barrish. Thus, it will be important for not only Delaware but other states offering online gaming to join forces in “compacts” that will expand the marketplace.
At this point, there isn’t much availability for those compacts. The only other state currently active in online gaming, Nevada, doesn’t offer the entire casino gaming experience (the Silver State only offers online poker) that Delaware does. In addition, Nevada only has two online operations currently active, Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com, and they are well down the online poker industry rankings with maximum player numbers reaching into the mid-200s for a 24-hour period (information from PokerScout.com) and average player numbers for a seven day period only in low to mid-100s.
The true test of the potential for online gaming and poker’s rebirth in the United States could come with the opening of the New Jersey online gaming market later this month. Offering full casino gaming, much like Delaware offers, New Jersey’s 9 million residents will provide a sizeable potential market to determine if intrastate gaming can survive. Delaware would be a good partner for New Jersey, as both offer full gaming rather than just online poker, but there has been no public discussion about any of the three states moving forward with compacts at this time.
