Since March, online poker revenues in the state of New Jersey have increased steadily each month as players took to online gaming during the lockdown. As casinos began to reopen, players seemed to still be opting for iPoker. Each month, the revenues were higher than before the pandemic. Now, it seems that momentum is slowing down. The revenue totals for August are in and the state generated only $3 million, the lowest earned during the pandemic.
August Revenue Details
In New Jersey, there are three online poker networks. You have PokerStars NJ, partypoker NJ and the All American Poker Network (AAPN). The AAPN is where WSOP operates. For the month of August, the AAPN earned just over $1.3 million while PokerStars NJ earned $971,811 and partypoker NJ earned $750,126.
The revenues showed that AAPN led the market and held a 43% share. PokerStars NJ came in second and had a 32% share. The partypoker US Network pulled up the rear with just 25% share. With the $3 million earned, it is a 78% increase from August of last year. However, it is a decrease from the previous month of around 37%. In July, the state brought in $4.8 million.
The decline from July to August this year is the biggest one in the history of the online poker market for the Garden State. While the poker market has remained low in its earnings, they have been able to see some type of growth. This recent decline could have to do with casinos opening back up in the state and offering services once again.
The online poker industry was also boosted over the past few months due to poker series. The WSOP Online was a big hit and allowed players to compete in more than 30 events with the chance to win gold rings. This was the first time that players could compete for so many gold rings via an online event.
Will Poker Continued on the Downward Trend?
While the pandemic has created several negatives, it was a positive for the online poker sector as it caused traffic and revenues to climb to unseen levels. In New Jersey, the stay at home order was lifted in June, but restrictions that remained in place led to the higher than usual revenues.
If you look at March to August numbers, the revenues for online poker came in at $24.7 million. This is an increase of 130% when you look at the same time frame in 2019. This is a huge increase, with the majority due to the pandemic circumstances.
While the pandemic is not going away any time soon, people are starting to get out and about again. Players are not stuck at home with nothing to do, so this could lead to lower revenues and player traffic at New Jersey online poker sites.
Only time will tell if August was a fluke month and revenues will be back or track or if the pandemic was a boost for the industry and it will soon fall back down to lower numbers as players go back to casinos for poker gaming or just stop playing due to being away from home.
