One of the criticisms of the New Jersey online gaming market is that the casino side has dominated it rather than the poker side of the operation. A look “across The Pond” at the operations in the United Kingdom show that it isn’t just the States of America where casino gaming rules poker.
According to reports from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, online poker made £101 million from April 2016 to March 2017. While that might sound like a large part of the online gaming pie, it in actuality only was 5% of the gross casino gaming take for that time span. Over the same period, online casino activity was responsible for £2.6 BILLION in revenues for the nation.
This vast difference isn’t just seen in comparing the online poker industry in the U. K. to its casino counterpart, it is seen in other online gaming outlets. Online slots generated £2.2 billion in revenues for the country and sports betting (not something that can be done in the States of America at this time) pulled in another £2.5 billion in revenues. Overall, the totals from online gambling in the U. K. were a 10.1% increase in the year to year numbers.
The UKGC believes that the reason for the increase in gaming – and the decrease in online poker – stems to one basic fact: people want to gamble to have fun, not as a job or to make gobs of money. Citing PokerStars’ Spin & Go tournaments as an example, British players are looking for games “that offer large jackpots and more of a gambling element.” The UKGC believes that this is something that transcends borders.
New Jersey’s numbers, while not nearly as large, would show that there could be something to the UKGC’s theory.
Since the launch of the industry in November 2013, online poker revenues have lagged behind their online casino counterparts. The online poker industry in New Jersey has generated $103.1 million in revenues, but that is only one-sixth of what the entire online industry in the Garden State has generated. The online casinos have generated $577.9 million in revenues since the inception of the industry to far outpace its partner games.
There is a bit of good news when looking at the individual operators in the New Jersey industry. Borgata/Party has taken in about $180.6 million, with online poker serving as approximately $45.7 million of that figure. Casino revenues have been excellent for Borgata/Party, coming in at $134.9 million since the launch of the industry.
The other major poker player in the Jersey market, Caesars/Harrah’s/888, has shown similar performance numbers. Of the $142.3 million that they have in “win,” $102.6 of it is from their online casino operations. $39.7 million has come from their online poker operations, almost 40% of what the take was. That was the best of the New Jersey operators.
And what about the Resorts AC/PokerStars partnership? They have taken in $83 million in revenues since coming on the scene, with $66 million of that from their online casino operations. $17 million of that figure comes from the PokerStars-services portion of their operations, but it also must be noted that PokerStars and Resorts AC were almost two and a half years behind the other operations in the state due to the licensing delays for PokerStars.
These numbers can also be seen in the live casino industry. In Nevada, casino gaming is the main cog in the gaming industry, not poker. In fact, it is often said that poker is a money loser for the casinos, which is why the industry was in dire straits prior to 2000 and few rooms existed. After the advent of online poker at the turn of the century, many live rooms in Sin City came back to life, as well as others in the Silver State’s gaming arena, but it will never come close to the numbers generated by slot and table games play.
But what do the numbers say in the grand scheme of things? People like to gamble and casinos – be they online or live – must be able to offer a full range of gaming for their customers. Whether it is poker, slots, or table games, it is all a part of the menagerie that draws people to the gambling palaces around the world.
