Delaware Online Gambling May Generate Less Than $5m In 2014

Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware are the only states in the USA to have introduced online gambling, but whereas Atlantic City’s online operators managed to generate $8.4 million in revenue for the six weeks until the end of 2013, Delaware could only muster a paltry $253,000 during November and December.
As a result, the northeastern state’s online gambling industry may generate less than the projected $5 million in revenue for its first year of operation. Furthermore, with the state collecting 100% of annual online revenues up to $3.75 million, Delaware’s three casinos are yet to collect any proceeds from online gambling.
Highlighting the difficulties facing The Diamond State, whereas both Nevada and New Jersey record an average of several hundred players over a seven-day period, Delaware with a population of just 917,092 has been averaging less than 20 people playing online at any given time.
Nevertheless, Delaware officials remain optimistic the state’s internet gambling will grow over the coming months as new marketing and promotion efforts focus on driving more players to the gambling sites. Furthermore, Delaware is looking to add other games, such as craps, to its online slots, blackjack, roulette and poker offerings, and as Vernon Kirk, director of the Delaware Lottery, explains:
“In and of itself, it’s not going to be the thing that solves everybody’s financial issues. It’s a piece of the puzzle, and it’s got a lot of potential.”
Last year, Delaware’s land based casino industry generated 406 million in revenue, down from $526 million in 2012, and representing is lowest revenue total since 2000. It was then hoped that online gambling would help reverse the worrying downslide, but realistically it may now take two to three years before online gambling may become a nice little money spinner for Delaware.
Crucially, in the future Delaware may inevitably seek to form compacts with other US states which adopt online gambling, and as investment banker Jay Masurekar from KeyBanc Capital Markets, explains: “When you are doing online gaming in a state like Delaware, there is just not enough population to bring in much revenue. Unless you have bigger states involved, it’s not going to work.”