Regulated online poker in the state of New Jersey took a fall in April as revenue totaled $1.9 million, down from $2.2 million in March.
When comparing year-over-year figures, the drop is even more significant. A total of $2.5 million was reached in April of 2014.
Player traffic tends to decrease when warmer spring weather arrives, typically resulting in lesser revenue totals. However, there may be reason for alarm considering that the pairing of 888 and WSOP.com in New Jersey saw its revenue figures reach an all-time low.
The two operators collected $858,845 in ipoker revenue last month, a drop of almost 14% from the previous month. That includes revenue from the popular Spring Poker Series at WSOP.com.
Revenue totals were not as dire for the other shared liquidity partnership in the Garden State of Partypoker and Borgata – but were still down from March figures. The two took in $1,126,444, a dip of slightly more than 8%.
Changes Ahead
PokerStars is expected to join the New Jersey online poker market sometime between July-September, which will likely result in even less revenue for the sites that got almost a two-year head start after launching in November 2013. It is hard to predict exactly how much market share PokerStars will be able to wrestle from the others, but the PokerStars name is obviously very strong and many players in the U.S. have been clamoring for their return.
Of course, WSOP is also recognized worldwide, and is preparing to host its 46th annual live tournament series in Las Vegas later this month. However, it is safe to say that while WSOP ranks at the top for live poker, PokerStars takes the award for popularity in the realm of online poker.
Players Outside of New Jersey
While New Jersey players wait for the arrival of PokerStars, the vast majority of the nation will not be allowed to play there. New Jersey online poker continues operating on an intrastate format, ring-fenced from the rest of the U.S.
With or without PokerStars, there are thousands of players throughout the U.S. who continue playing exciting online poker at the likes of Black Chip Poker, Americas Cardroom, Full Flush Poker and Carbon Poker. Many of those players remain pleased that the games at which they play are not confined to only those located in New Jersey.
Player traffic remains light in the Garden State and one can certainly suggest that the players in the rest of the U.S. other than the regulated states of Delaware and Nevada are better off. Online poker is best when game choices and players are plentiful, which has yet to happen under the state-by-state model of regulation.
