Delaware IGaming Down 27% To $175k In May

This week Delaware released its latest tranche of igaming results, and the news was not good. Over the past few months online casino games have at least managed to counteract the state’s declining poker revenues such that positive growth has been reported every month since regulation began in November 2013.
May’s results, however, broke the streak and not only did poker revenues show a 22% fall to $57,470 last month, but online table games, too, generated 47% less revenues at $72,537, compared to the $137,203 taken in April. Overall, the Delaware Lottery reported $175,601 in combined igaming revenues, a 27% fall compared to the $240,496 taken in April.
The unexpected decline in Delaware’s online casino market therefore represents a significant danger to The Diamond State’s small and fragile igaming industry. Furthermore, new account sign-ups have been steadily declining since the end of 2013, and in May just 342 players opened up new online gaming accounts, 16% fewer than in April.
Commenting on the worrying trend, a pokerfuse.com article had this observation to make: “The numbers are slightly more dramatic when compared on a per day basis. Daily online poker revenues in the state were $1,853.87 in May compared to $2,469.27 in April (a 24.92% slide).”
On a more positive note, however, analysts have drawn attention to the fact the summer months always tend to result in significantly lower online gambling traffic, and that a clearer picture of Delaware’s igaming market will have to wait until after the next few months.
One thing that does seem clear, however, is that online casino games seem to be a better earner than its online poker equivalent. For a while after Delaware introduced igaming, for instance, poker returned bigger revenues than casino games but over the past three months those positions have been reversed. In the same way, in New Jersey online casino revenues account for more than a two-third of overall revenues.
This may then raise the question as to why certain states, such as California and Pennsylvania, are presently proposing online poker only regulation. One explanation is that land-based casino interests oppose “cannibalization” of their casino game business, but not so much their less profitable poker room business. Another reason suggested by Sarah Coffey on ifrahonigaming.com, is as follows:
“Some states considering poker-only legislation view it as a test run to see how the well the state can implement online gaming safely and responsibly before adding casino games to the mix.  Nevada and Pennsylvania have said that they see online poker as a potential first step into online gaming rather than a final one.  We believe that many poker-only states will find themselves adding casino games down the line when they see how much potential revenue they’re leaving on the table.”