Delaware iPoker Revenue Just $15,117 in October

In October, the First State’s casino market generated $209,745 in revenue, according to the latest results released by the Delaware Lottery. From that tally, slot machines brought in the lion’s share of business worth $139,234, up by 46% year-over-year, and by 11% compared to the previous month; while table games contributed a further $55,393, almost twice September’s figure, but down by 6% from the same month last year.
That just leaves a mere $15,117 collected by the state’s online poker sites, with that amount 42% lower than October of 2016, and 18% down versus September. As a result, Delaware’s online poker vertical currently accounts for a mere 7% of the state’s overall gambling market, with the segment continuing to decline in popularity since reaching a peak of $106,922 in December 2013. Putting the downward trend into perspective, October 2017’s tally was a full 86% off the record high set almost four year earlier.
In March 2015, Nevada and Delaware started sharing their online poker players in an attempt to boost their individually poor traffic. Last month, however, Nevada’s only viable poker room, WSOP.com, and the three poker sites based in Delaware averaged a combined 135 cash game players, marking their lowest point since the liquidity compact was launched more than two and a half years ago.
If the online poker news was not already bad enough, last month, Delaware’s poker and casino sites saw 213 new accounts created, marking their third lowest total ever, and only slightly off the record low set this August of 209 accounts.
Liquidity Pool Expansion
At least there is a ray of sunshine on the horizon for Delaware’s declining online poker market, as well as Nevada’s, which only manages to pull in any type of decent traffic during the annual WSOP in Las Vegas. In October, New Jersey finally agreed to become part of a larger poker network comprising all three regulated states, which should ultimately help create a more competitive and attractive landscape for both players and operators alike.
Furthermore, the newly regulated state of Pennsylvania is expected to join the compact next year, with its population of 12.78 million sure to help improve the network’s overall results.