No matter what your position regarding online gaming and poker, there’s only one thing that matters to politicians who have passed regulations regarding the industry – how much money are the online sites bringing in? There are early reports in on the burgeoning Pennsylvania online gaming scene – albeit sans online poker – as the state of New Jersey storms forward as THE leader in online gaming in the U. S.
Partial Month Pennsylvania Stats Show Promise
Since they only came online on July 15th, the numbers aren’t a true demonstration of the Pennsylvania online casino gaming industry, but they do show some promise. Only three of the 12 potential operators came to the game when the gates opened – Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course outside of Harrisburg, Parx Casino in Bensalem and SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia – but the trio of operations were welcomed by a ravenous online audience in the Keystone State. In the two areas of operation that the set of online casinos offered, they nearly generated a million dollars in action.
For online slot revenues, SugarHouse led the way with $261,869 for the partial month of July, outpacing both Parx ($139,903) and Hollywood ($115,940) combined. The same held true for online table games, with both SugarHouse ($160,927) and Parx ($120,221) battling it out for supremacy over Hollywood ($13,446). All totaled, the three online operations that currently make up the Pennsylvania online totaled $812,306 in revenues, with tax revenues of $326,700 generated.
What don’t we see in these online numbers? Online poker. No licensee in Pennsylvania has opened an online poker site as of yet and there doesn’t seem to be any hurry to bring these sites online. The reason for that may be seen in Pennsylvania’s neighbor, New Jersey, which is doing outstanding business in the online casino realm but continues to disappoint in its online poker offerings.
New Jersey Online Casinos Continue to Set Records
During what has traditionally been a “slowdown” in online gaming – after all, it is summertime and people would rather be outside – New Jersey has shown that they can buck the normal trends. In July, the Garden State’s online gaming and poker industry shattered records for the now six-year old industry. The New Jersey numbers also point out one of the stark realities of casino gaming, whether it is live or online – that table games and slots are the “straw that stirs the drink” and poker, for all of its bluster, is an afterthought.
For the month of July, the seven operators in New Jersey – the Borgata, Caesars, the Golden Nugget, the Hard Rock, Ocean Resort, Resorts and the Tropicana – brought in a grand total of $39.3 million (and change). This shattered the previous monthly record that was set back in March of this year and it continued a streak of $30 million-plus revenue months that dates back to the start of 2019. The “Leader of the Pack” in Atlantic City online gaming is the Golden Nugget, whose take of $14.9 million outpaced its two closest competitors, Resorts ($6.9 million) and the Borgata ($6.4 million).
Arguably the most disappointing thing, at least for online poker fans, is the massive disparity between the online casino and online poker numbers. Of the $39.3 million pulled in by New Jersey online casinos in July, $37.4 million of that was generated from slots, table games and sports betting. Only $1.9 million of the revenues came from online poker, although it did show a 2.1% increase in year-over-year comparison.
Expect the Trend to Continue in New Jersey, Eyes on Pennsylvania
New Jersey is experiencing a huge boost from sports betting, as they anticipated when they fought for the right to offer it in their casinos and online. It is expected that online revenues from their industry will set another record in 2019, perhaps cracking the $300 million mark in revenues. Pennsylvania’s online gaming industry is still in its infancy, however, so we will have to keep our eyes on how it rolls out (especially getting a full month under its belt) and whether online poker will ever be picked up by the licensees.
