New Jersey Online Gambling Revenue Continues To Shatter Records
New Jersey online gambling numbers were released this week, and we are beginning to sound like a broken record. Literally, records were broken. Again.
Overall casino revenue and several individual operators set a new bar for measuring success. Outside of poker, there is very little bad news in the report. Poker, on the other hand, continues to have a hard time finding a positive trend line.
March 2018 online gaming revenue summary
Overall revenue was $25.6 million. It shattered the previous record set last month by more than $3 million. That is the most substantial one month increase since regulated gaming began. It is the third consecutive month revenue has been in record territory, a first for the industry.
Golden Nugget continues to stand tall above the rest, earning more than Borgata and Caesars combined. But the real story is that Caesars also posted record numbers and is the only operator to boast a month over month double-digit percentage growth in both the casino and its overall revenue number.
Borgata maintains its second-place position, but it is holding on by a thread. It is on the verge of slipping down a spot if Caesars continues to build on its strong earnings from the month.
Tropicana and Resorts remained flat in March. Even so, Resorts’ number was also in record territory. Tropicana was the only operator that came in under the $4 million in revenue mark.
Take note that the month over month numbers have been normalized to account for the three extra days in March.
New Jersey overall online revenue numbers
- Casino: $23.6 million for the month
(Up 5 percent month over month for a 21.1 percent increase year over year) - Poker: $2 million for the month
(Up .2 percent month over month for a 12.7 percent decrease year over year) - Overall: $25.7 million for the month
(Up 5 percent month over month for a 17.6 percent increase year over year)
Online revenue detail by operator
Borgata (Borgata, Party, Pala, MGM)
Second place has been home to Borgata for last few months, and that is true for March – barely. Caesars is only $170,000 off Borgata’s overall number of $4.58 million. Looking at the complete picture, Borgata posted decent revenue numbers with the casino up 9.77 percent month over month and poker up 5.52 percent. Poker is still falling short of last year’s numbers but posting a healthy number in positive territory is encouraging.
Borgata’s revenue numbers
- Casino: $3.96 million for the month
(Up 9.77 percent month over month for a 6.95 percent increase year over year) - Poker: $622,620 for the month
(Up 5.52 percent month over month for a 4.31 percent decrease year over year) - Overall: $4.58 million for the month
(Up 9.17 percent month over month for a 5.27 percent increase year over year)
Caesars (888, Caesars, Harrah’s, WSOP)
A new month means a new story for Caesars’ revenue picture. Last month it posted the biggest losses in both the casino and poker rooms. This month it had the biggest month over month percentage increase (31.35%) for the casino.
Poker is the same old story, though. It continues to struggle to find momentum. Its poker room brought in more money ($565,797) for March, but when the number is normalized to account for the extra days, it actually posted a decrease of 6.69 percent.
Caesars’ revenue numbers
- Casino: $3.85 million for the month
(up 31.35 percent month over month for a 56.48 percent year over year) - Poker: $564,797 for the month
(Down -6.69 percent month over month for an 18.5 percent decrease year over year) - Overall: $4.41 million for the month
(UP 24.83 percent month over month for a 40 percent increase year over year)
Golden Nugget (Golden Nugget, Betfair, SugarHouse)
Golden Nugget surpassed $8 million for the first time in March. Its position as the leader in the space is secure. It continues to dominate the market by earning more than double its nearest online casino competitor.
The online casino produced $8.65 million in March. Even with a record number, normalizing the revenue to account for the extra days in March, its revenue fell .86 percent month over month. Its year over year number continues to impress and sits at 40 percent.
Resorts AC (Resorts, Mohegan Sun, PokerStars NJ)
Resorts ended the month flat with month over month percentage increases of 1.27 percent for the casino, 1.48 percent for poker and 1.31 percent overall. The casino brought in $3.45 million, which is revenue record-setting month for the operator.
Resorts’ revenue numbers
- Casino: $3.45 million for the month
(A 1.27 percent month over month for a 5.03 percent increase year over year) - Poker: $778,949 for the month
(Up 1.48 percent month over month for a 14. 29 percent decrease year over year) - Overall: $4.23 for the month
(Up 1.31 percent month over month for a .84 percent increase year over year)
Tropicana (Tropicana, Virgin)
Tropicana didn’t cash in on some of the big revenue numbers posted by other casinos and remained relatively flat for the month. Its monthly revenue of $3.69 million is a .28 percent decrease month over month for a 4.38 percent decrease year over year. Its small declines are the only month over month and year over year declines for casinos.
[i15-table tableid=20717][i15-table tableid=19346]Final Thoughts
Online casino numbers continue to skyrocket, while operators are still trying to find some footing on the poker front. Poker continues to negatively impact the overall year over year numbers for the industry.
It will be interesting to see if Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resorts Casino, two new New Jersey online operators expected to launch later this year, will offer poker or take a wait-and-see approach.
There is a lot of positive momentum on the national online gaming landscape. Legislation has new life in New York, while Pennsylvania is getting ready to launch online gaming later this year, and sports betting is on center stage awaiting what everyone hopes will be a positive decision from the Supreme Court.
All of that momentum could mean online gaming in New Jersey will continue to hover in record territory.