New Jersey Online Gambling Falls 9% To $9.5m In June

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has released its latest online gambling figures for June, revealing a 9.17% drop in revenues to $9.51 million, compared to the $10.47 million generated in the previous month. From that total, online casino game revenues were down by 9% to $7.45 million, while internet poker, too, was down by 9.9% to $2.05 million.
The Garden State launched its first online gambling website in November 2013, with Governor Chris Christie optimistic that the $1 billion in projected igaming revenues would help NJ reverse the fortunes of its ailing gambling industry. Unfortunately, actual revenues have proven to be just a tenth of Christie’s forecast, and the situation deteriorated further in April after the state reported its first contraction in igaming revenues. With June’s results that trend has now continued for three consecutive months, signalling more worrying times ahead.
In the seven months since regulated igaming became accessible in NJ, online casino games have generated a total of $46.37m in revenues, and online poker just $16.67m. Establishing itself as the market leader is Borgata (bwin.party) with 36.5% of internet gambling revenues, followed by Caesar’s Interactive with 27.3%, and The Tropicana with 18.2%.
During that time 378,564 new accounts have been registered since November last year, and shinning a rare piece of positivity on June’s figures is the fact 27,428 players signed up for new accounts last month, a 7.8% improvement compared to May.
New Jersey’s casino industry hit a peak of $5.2 billion in 2006, but revenues have since almost halved to $2.86 billion in 2013. Online gambling legislation was subsequently introduced in 2013, but Atlantic City’s decline has continued unabated and this year The Atlantic Club Casino has already gone out of business with the Showboat Casino, the Trump Plaza Casino, and Revel expected to follow suit.
Fortunately, New Jersey has been exploring other options in order to increase state revenues, including transforming Atlantic City into a multi-faceted tourism destination, and as AC mayor, Don Guardian, explains:
“Atlantic City is resilient. It’s gone from a health resort to the world’s playground with liquor during Prohibition, to a convention city and then a gambling monopoly, at least on the East Coast. It’s time to open another chapter.”