Online poker continued showing strength in July in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant big revenue totals again including the second-best month ever in the Garden State.
Online poker numbers in other states were big too. Overall online gaming has shown sustained growth since the start of the quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.
NJ records second biggest online poker month
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) allowed for the reopening of Atlantic City casinos over the July 4 weekend. However, live poker rooms remain closed in New Jersey
This has led to continuing online poker growth – including the second-biggest month on record. Revenue reports showed NJ poker operators brought in $4.8 million in July compared to $1.8 million a year prior.
WSOP.com held onto the top spot again in July by posting $2.8 million. The site, which shared liquidity in Nevada and with 888poker in Delaware and NJ, scored big with the summer WSOP Online bracelet events.
With the annual summer series postponed, WSOP.com hosted a bracelet event daily throughout July. Those events drew massive player pools. The site is now hosting its Summer Series, which should also bring in plenty of NJ players.
PokerStars NJ hit a million-dollar month again after scoring $1.1 million in July. The operator continues to roll out new tournament series such as the popular Bounty Builder Series.
Partypoker (including the BorgataPoker.com and BetMGM skins) brought in $845,000. Even though party was the lowest of the three operators, revenue was almost twice that of July 2019.
Online casino numbers break records
Even with the reopening of New Jersey casinos, online gaming put up record-breaking numbers in Jul. Internet gaming brought in $87.5 million compared to $39.3 million compared to this time last year. That’s a year-over-year increase of 123%.
According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, that led to total gaming taxes of $26.4 million.
Total gaming taxes represented 8% of taxable casino gross revenue and 15% of Internet gaming gross revenue.
PokerStars sees PA revenue dip slightly
In Pennsylvania, PokerStars holds on for another month as the only online poker operator. In July, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reported that PokerStars (partnered with Mount Airy Casino) reported $2.9 million in revenue.
This number is slightly down from the $3.2 million reported in June but is still a nice total for the market. At the July PGCB meeting, it was speculated that WSOP.com and partypoker would be granted approval to start operations.
The issue wasn’t brought up at the August meeting however. For the time being PokerStars will hold onto its online poker monopoly in the Keystone State.
Casinos across Pennsylvania continue to reopen, but all poker rooms remained closed in July. The PGCB published reopening protocols on May 19.
“Poker rooms are not authorized to operate due to players handling cards and chips,” the protocols note. “Poker room operations will be re-examined based upon changing CDC and PA Department of Health guidance.”
Delaware small numbers show growth
Legal online poker in Delaware showed a small uptick in revenue in July. Delaware Lottery gaming numbers show poker brought in $62,603 in July.
This was up almost 10% from June. Online poker in Delaware solely operates under 888poker. The company runs three combined player pool skins under Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Casinos.
Delaware brick and mortar casinos are currently open under Gov. John Carney’s ( D) Phase 2 reopening plan. However, all Delaware live poker rooms remain closed.
The mandate calls for 60% occupancy of that allowed by current fire codes. Hours of operation are limited during the week with 24-hour gaming allowed on weekends.
With so many poker rooms closed in these three states, online poker should continue to flourish in coming weeks.
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