With several states offering online gaming, one area that continues to struggle in the US is online poker gaming. After having a boom for many years, it seems players are now into casino games rather than online poker options. In New Jersey, the top performing online gaming state in the nation, online poker falls flat, with January figures showing the industry continues to struggle.
January 2020 Totals
During the first month of 2020, online poker gaming in the Garden State generated over $1.8 milion in revenues. Online poker rooms operating in the state include the WSOP NJ and 888poker, with the grouping bringing in the most money for the month at $718,000.
PokerStars was up next with $635,000 in earnings and the partypoker network of rooms brought in a total of $479,000. As with the month of January, the earnings were solid and more than the past few months have been able to generate but it still shows that the poker market is continuing to shrink.
When looking at January totals from this year and last year, the state saw a decrease of 2.7%. However, this is the smallest year over year decline seen since online poker launched in the state back in 2013. All of the online poker networks in operation saw a decline in traffic which resulted in the yearly decline.
While the decline is still present, it does seem as though the online poker market is starting to stabilize. The revenues are staying closer to the same and it is expected that this year will be similar to 2019, unless some type of major change occurs via legislation, be it on a state or federal level.
Pennsylvania Doing Well
It is important to note that neighboring Pennsylvania is doing quite well when it comes to online poker gaming. For years, gaming analysts have wondered that if poker expanded in the US if it would have similar results to New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada or if the industry would pick up steam.
With Pennsylvania, the only option currently is PokerStars, but already, players are signing up to play in high numbers. Big events have taken place and see such large turnouts that PokerStars has increased the prize pool guarantees.
Players can simply look at the upcoming Bounty Builder events set to take place in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see the difference. Both states are offering the tournament options, but the prize pools are much larger in PA. Players will of course have a slightly higher buy-in for the same events, but the earning potential is also higher.
While online poker is generally stabilizing in New Jersey, all eyes are on Pennsylvania as their new industry continues to grow. While it is doing well with PokerStars, it will be interesting to see if the market can grow even larger if new platforms are launched or as time passes by, if players will continue to log in at the site in larger numbers to take part in online poker gaming.
