Delaware Online Gambling Up 24% To $206k In March

The Delaware Lottery has released its online gambling results for March, revealing a 24% increase in overall revenues to $206,833, compared to the $166,454 generated in the previous month. From that tally, casino games posted a 32.4% rise in revenues to $122,441, while poker was up by 12.3% to $84,391, compared to the $73,971 taken in February.
Dominating the state’s online gambling market was Delaware Park with $131,846 of March’s revenue, including $66,483 for poker, up from the $26,061 taken in February. The racino also leads Delaware’s online poker industry with a 65% share of the market, followed by Dover Downs (25%) and then Harrington (9%). Nevertheless, the $84,391 generated by poker in March was still significantly lower than December 2013, when online poker revenues peaked at $106,922.
The overall results mean Diamond State operators have yet to show a profit from online gambling, as Delaware collects the first $3.5 million of each company’s annual online revenues. The rather strict arrangement would also seem to be deterring websites from promoting their products, with Harrington showing more willingness in that regard compared to its two other competitors.
Consequently, new signups fell off by 8% in March, representing the fourth month in a row fewer Delaware residents registered for online gambling accounts.
Delaware is hoping a landmark agreement to combine its player pools with Nevada may soon help to give its nascent online gambling industry a much needed boost. Although no specific date has been agreed to commence implementation of the compact, recently Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval did indicate the new gambling agreement could begin as early as this summer. The two states are also hoping to encourage further participation in their poker compact from other US states, and as  Sandoval stated last month:
“If there are states that don’t have as sophisticated a regulatory structure as we have, that’s something we can offer. If your state doesn’t have the infrastructure, use our capabilities.”