In the United States, there are limited options to playing online poker and casino gaming. The state of New Jersey has been the most successful, outpacing Nevada and Delaware in poker and online casino game play. In the state of New Jersey, online operators must be in a partnership with a land based facility to offer such gaming options and based on recent financial reports released by the Division of Gaming Enforcement of New Jersey, casinos that are connected to online poker and casino game play are faring far better than those who are not involved with online gaming.
The Q4 financial reports of the regulated online poker and casino sites were published last week and despite less than estimated numbers, the state has done well with the blossoming industry. When comparing the Q4 reports of 2013 to 2014, the Golden Nugget of Atlantic City has seen the largest upswing with over 50% increase in net revenues.
The Tropicana Hotel and Casino also benefited from three months of positive operations with online gaming. The gaming operator was able to earn just over $46 million during the last three months of operations. The Borgata Casino has been the most profitable, even not earning a ton of growth, the Borgata was still able to earn a 14% improvement within the final months of the year.
According to the reports, the total net revenue for every casino in Atlantic City in the last quarter of the year was increased by 12%. The most significant result of the report was the influence of online gaming within the industry. The majority of active operators saw an increase in revenues during the close of 2014. The biggest improvements were seen by casinos who are involved in the online gaming industry within the state.
None of the casinos who are not involved with the online gaming industry were able to beat the Borgata’s growth of 14%. When you compare the reports of 2013 to 2014, the Tropicana, Golden Nugget and Borgata were able to contribute to much better revenues to the state with the inclusion of online gaming.
The Tropicana saw a 24% increase in revenues with online gaming and casino combined with Golden Nugget seeing an increase of 36.4%. The Borgata saw an increase of 6.1% in overall revenues when comparing the information from 2013 and 2014. Land based casinos that do not offer online gaming, including Bally’s AC and Caesars have seen a decrease of 10.9 and 4.3 percent year over year.
It is too early to truly tell if online gaming has a strong enough impact as to why the difference in results but over time, we should be able to see if online gaming is a strong reason behind increased revenues. The numbers do suggest that casinos involved in online gaming are seeing positive results as part of offering such gaming activity.
The state of New Jersey is a prime example as to the positives that can come for online poker and casino gaming. Being the market leader has allowed the state to be at the forefront of gaming and has many other states looking to add legislation and similar regulations as used in the Garden State. States looking to enter the industry in the short term include California and Pennsylvania. Both states have legislation currently under review and seem to be moving the quickest to become the next state in the US to offer such gaming activity.
As more states become involved in the online poker and casino industry of the US, it will be interesting to see if New Jersey will remain a market leader or if another state will take the reigns.