Delaware iGaming Soars 60% to $229,789 in February

The Delaware Lottery has released its latest online gaming results for February, revealing an impressive 60% increase in revenues to $229,789, compared to the $143,101 that was collected in the same month in 2015. That amount also marked the state’s second biggest haul since online gambling was launched back in November 2013, with Delaware’s biggest ever tally of $240,762 having been posted in April 2014.
Leading The First State’s iGaming market last month was its video lottery terminal offering, which generated $103,596 in February, down 25% from the $138,391 collected the previous month. Online casino games, however, were not far behind with $97,899 in revenues, representing an astounding 275% increase from the $26,089 taken in January.
Even online poker managed an improvement in February, producing 7.4% more revenues at $28,294 versus the same month in 2015. Its year-on-year comparison was not so positive, though, as it was down by 18% from the $34,526 collected in February 2015. Online poker continues to be on a downward trajectory across the globe, and Delaware’s iPoker compact with Nevada has thus far failed to stem the verticals slide. Consequently, the Nevada/Delaware iPoker network is currently showing just 150 cash game players over a 7-day period, with a 24-hour peak of 282 players. New Jersey’s combined iPoker market, on the other hand, is showing 400 cash players across three operators, namely WSOP/888 (170), PokerStars (120) and Party Borgata (110).
No major improvement in Delaware’s online poker numbers are expected unless New Jersey suddenly opts to share its player pool with the country’s other two regulated states. So far, New Jersey hasn’t said it was against such an agreement, but the state also has the benefit of having an almost 9 million population, which has allowed it to generate monthly iPoker revenues of around $2 million. PokerStars’ recent launch in New Jersey may even help to grow the market further, although other analysts believe the local market has already reached its apex.