New Jersey Online Gambling Revenue Rose in July
For the first time in four months, both online poker and overall internet gambling revenue increased in the state of New Jersey. According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), total internet gaming “win,” as it is called, was just above $10 million, at $10,070,262, a 5.94 percent increase from June. Poker, or “peer-to-peer win,” made up $2,146,500 of that, a 4.81 percent rise from the previous month.
While New Jersey’s infant regulated online gaming industry has not lived up to predictions, it may be a good sign that revenues ticked up in July, as gambling sites routinely experience lulls during the summer as people spend more time outdoors and less time in front of their computers. In March, total internet gaming win in New Jersey was $11,878,374, a whopping 15.20 percent increase from February. After that, it went down 3.79 percent, 8.39 percent, and 9.21 percent, closing out June at $9,505,578. 
The fall was even worse for online poker, which was at $3,210,663 in March. After that, poker had monthly declines of 19.27 percent, 12.28 percent, and 9.92 percent, ending June almost under $2 million at $2,048,082. The 4.81 percent rise in July is not amazing, but it is certainly better than the alternative.
Of that $2,146,500 in online poker revenue, the vast majority came from two licensees: the Borgata and Caesars Interactive Entertainment. The two were nearly in a dead heat, with Borgata bringing in $1,109,670 through its Party Borgata Network and Caesars raking $1,010,786 via its World Series of Poker branded site, WSOP.com, as well as 888poker.com According to the DGE report, the Trump Taj Mahal accounted for $26,043 of online poker revenue (Ultimate Poker) and somehow the Trump Plaza made a single dollar. Thus, the Borgata owned 51.70 percent of the market, followed by Caesars with 47.09 percent and Trump with just 1.21 percent.
The online poker revenue figures represent a 3.20 percent increase over June for Borgata, a 7.26 percent increase for Caesars, and a staggering 14.39 percent decrease for Trump Taj Mahal. The magical one dollar was an INFINITE increase for the Trump Plaza. So congrats to the Plaza!
When it comes to actual player traffic, PokerScout.com reports that the Party Borgata Network leads New Jersey with a seven day average of 140 cash game players. WSOP.com is close behind with 130 cash game players, giving them market shares of 40.58 percent and 37.68 percent, respectively. The All American Poker Network, which is comprised of just 888poker.com right now, has a seven day average of 75 players, making up the rest of the state’s poker traffic. PokerScout reports Ultimate Poker with zero cash game players at the moment.
The Borgata was also the leader in overall internet gambling revenue, bringing in $3,181,048 total for the month of July. Caesars was next with $2,716,594, followed, perhaps surprisingly, by the Tropicana, which had revenues of $1,964,130. Golden Nugget, Trump Plaza, and Trump Taj Mahal brought up the year none making more than a million dollars in internet revenue.
As for New Jersey’s brick-and-mortar gambling figures, they looked really good month-to-month. Total “casino win” for July 2014 was $264,185,099, up $37,710,002 from June to $226,475,097, a steep rise of 16.65 percent. But it is a different story when compared to the same time last year. In July 2013, total casino win was $297,164,382, representing a decline of over 11 percent year over year. July’s internet gaming win naturally softens the blow a bit, as there was no internet gambling in New Jersey a year ago.
Just like with online gambling, Borgata led the way in July with $60,262,291 in casino win. Harrah’s was a distant second with $35,569,840. Caesars and Tropicana were close together with $28,164,508 and $27,732,203 in casino gaming revenue, respectively, while Bally’s AC rounded out the top five with $22,788,453.
Of the eleven remaining Atlantic City casinos (three more are about to be eliminated from the record books), four saw their casino gaming win increase from July 2013 to July 2014. Golden Nugget led the way in that department with an amazing 40.5 percent increase, followed by the Tropicana at 34.2 percent. Resorts and Harrah’s had small, single digit increases. Revel, which just announced that it will close in September, saw its gaming revenues decline by 36.3 percent from the same period last year. Similarly, the also dead Trump Plaza had its casino gaming win go down by 34 percent.
Next year’s July numbers will be much, much worse than this year’s, as three more casinos – the Trump Plaza, Revel, and the Showboat – are closing.
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