Nevada Internet Poker Up 9% To $862k In May

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released its gambling figures for May, revealing an 8.1% increase in revenues to $970.3 million, compared to the same month in 2013. From that figure, online poker contributed $862,000, up 8.8% over April’s tally of $792,000. The Silver State then collected $56.2 million in gaming taxes, which was 2.43% lower than the same month last year.
As anticipated, the 2014 World Series of Poker currently underway in Las Vegas combined with its WSOP.com cross-promotional campaign has helped provide the Silver State’s online poker market with a much-needed boost. Consequently, Nevada’s online poker revenues for May marks the state’s second highest monthly total in 2014, although the increase in traffic has not translated into more customers for the state’s other two poker websites.
As a result, while WSOP.com is currently showing an average of 140 cash game players over a seven-day-period, Ultimate Poker has stayed on just 60 players over the past month, and Real Gaming with apparently no traffic at all, according to PokerScout.
For the 12 months of its regulated online poker industry, Nevada has now generated $10.2 million in revenues, with $700,000 of that amount being collected by the state in the form gambling taxes. Naturally, those figures are a far cry from the projections cited by experts ahead of regulation, and will do little to encourage other states to adopt online poker regulations of their own.
In March, for instance, Morgan Stanley felt it necessary to adjust downwards its forecast for a regulated US online gambling market, stating $3.5 billion by 2017 was more realistic than its initial estimate of $5 billion.
Away from online poker, Nevada’s brick-and-mortar casinos generated $970 million in May, $556 million of which came from slot machines. Slots are generally regarded as a reliable way for assessing the overall health of a gambling market, and Nevada’s 4% growth in slots revenues was received well by analysts. As Joe Greff from J.P. Morgan gaming, explained:
“We maintain our positive outlook for the Las Vegas Strip and believe the overall recovery will continue as 2014 progresses.”
In addition, baccarat generated $170.9 million statewide, up 88.7% compared to last year, and fueled by a Chinese holiday, as well as the Floyd Mayweather unification fight against Marcos Maidana.