Brick and mortar poker rooms may be closed due to Coronavirus in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but online poker is reaching new heights. Governors ordered the shutdown of all land-based casinos and poker rooms in March until further notice.
However, online casinos still operate in both states during the pandemic. As a result, New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents flooded the online market. Both states recorded their biggest poker revenue months to date.
New Jersey sets record for online poker
Online poker brought in $3.6 million in total revenue in New Jersey in March – doubling February’s total. This is the biggest month New Jersey has seen since the launch of regulated online poker in 2013. January 2014 held the previous record of $3.4 million.
WSOP.com (Caesars Entertainment) brought in the most poker revenue in the state with $1.6 million, more than doubling March 2019.
PokerStars NJ, partnered with Resorts Casino in the state, set a new record as well with $1.1 million in revenue. Partypoker, including its skins BorgataPoker.com and BetMGM reported $825,000.
Poker isn’t the only game flourishing, online casino games set records across the board in March. Online casinos took in $61.2 million in revenue in March as reported by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement. This is a 64% increase year-over-year and up 21% from February.
Golden Nugget online casino still holds the top spot in NJ with $23 million in revenue. That’s a 17% increase from the previous month. Resorts online casino reported the second highest total with $13.5 million.
PA sees substantial online poker growth
PokerStars also set a record of $3.1 million in revenue for March in Pennsylvania. Since the launch of online casinos in July 2019, Mount Airy hosts the only online poker platform in the state through its partnership with Stars.
March’s poker totals are more than double the previous record of $1.5 million in December 2019. PA’s single operator numbers have gone toe-to-toe with all three of the online platforms in NJ each month since launching.
Like New Jersey, Pennsylvania online operators capitalized on the current situation. Across the board, nearly every casino operator set new records for interactive slot and table wagers.
Online slots represented $12.3 million in gross revenue for the state, while online table games generated $8.7 million.
Sportsbooks take a heavy hit
Casino operators were eyeing March to be one of the pinnacles of the sports betting year. NCAA March Madness, NHL, NBA, and the newly-revived XFL were all aligning to possibly make it a huge wagering month.
However, COVID-19 put a halt to those plans. The lack of live sports has led to a complete slump in online sports betting. New Jersey sports betting saw a 63% decrease from February.
Pennsylvania wagering brought in just $7.9 million in March, the third lowest since July 2019.
April looks to crush all online casino records
Sports betting may continue to plunge in April, but look for online poker and casino games to have the biggest month totals to date.
Online poker is on pace to bring in more than $4 million in revenue next month in each state. All major legal poker sites are currently running tournament series to attract action from at-home and new players.
It should make for a big April as the US online poker market experiences a rebirth.
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