2020 was a good year for online poker in the United States. Since its beginning in 2013, the online poker industry has struggled a bit in the states that have legalized it. The game has basically taken a backseat to online casino gaming. However, last year, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, players were sticking closer to home. So, they logged in and played online poker. New Jersey had a solid year with the partypoker US Network helping to push the state to new heights in the last quarter of the year.
Data Details
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has now provided the full year of information for 2020. In December, the state’s three online poker operators brought in over $3 million. This was a solid increase of 74% from the previous year and a new high monthly record for December, in the seven year history of the industry.
The month created a 10 month streak for the state when it comes to year-over-year growth. The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus helped to spur this growth due to the need for social distancing and the fact that casinos were closed for some part of the year. Plus, poker in land-based form did not come back for quite some time after the casinos reopened.
The three online poker rooms were able to generate almost $40 million for the year. The operators in the Garden State are the WSOP, partypoker and PokerStars NJ. The year was a new high for the state, the best since 2014 when the state earned $29 million.
Biggest Growth for partypoker
When it comes to networks, it was partypoker that saw the biggest growth last year. They were the smallest of the three for quite some time and 2020 was apparently their year. Partypoker has three skins in operation in New Jersey, BetMGM, partypokerNJ, and Borgata Poker.
It was the last quarter of 2020 that was the most successful. The largest annual increase in revenues were seen with the operators pushing over the 100% mark. This was an amazing feat considering that the WSOP grew by 53% and PokerStars NJ was up by 46% in the last quarter.
One reason for the growth was successful events. The partypoker US Network offered its regular cash games and tournament options but also focused on new and unique events with popular partners. In December, the network played host to the WPT Online Poker Open. This event had $1 million guarantees and generated a ton of action.
The event saw 395 players competing which pushed the $1 million prize pool to $1,264,000. This was the biggest prize pool to ever be provided via the network. The entire year basically looked like this for party. They continued to offer quality gaming options and players ate it up.
The network offered a tournament series each month in 2020 and it paid off. It will be exciting to see what they can come up with in 2021 and if the revenue streak will continue!
