Online gambling is legally alive and well in the United States, with New Jersey leading the way. That state owns a much larger population than Nevada and Delaware combined, the only other two states who have decided to legalize Web gambling for their residents and visitors. And according to the initial revenue report delivered by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement, a respectable $8.4 million was generated in the first six weeks of Internet poker, casino and slots gambling in the Garden State. Beginning with a soft launch on November 21, New Jersey gambling online has a clear virtual gambling leader at this early stage.
A couple of dozen companies were licensed to deliver Internet gambling options in New Jersey, but thus far only six firms are offering Internet gambling options there. One of those companies, a partnership between PartyPoker, which is owned and operated by bwin.party digital entertainment plc, and the Borgata brick-and-mortar casino located on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, showed a take of $1.9 million from its poker operation, and an additional $1.8 million from its virtual casino. The $3.75 million total accounts for roughly 45% of the entire New Jersey online gambling take, placing it well ahead of the second best revenue generator, Caesars.
Borgata is the base of operations for both PartyPoker and Borgata online brands, with Caesars delivering Cyber casino, slots and poker through WSOP.com, HarrahsCasino.com, CaesarsCasino.com and partner 888 brands. The Caesars partnership with 888 Holdings was good for $2.38 million in the shortened November and December Q4 earnings report. Just as was evidenced by the poker versus casino numbers for Borgata, Caesars showed roughly even popularity delivered by its two main gambling options. The multiple websites offered by that partnership earned $1.2 million from poker and $1.17 million from casino gambling.
At the other end of the spectrum is the offering from the partnership between Betfair and Trump Plaza. Atlantic City online poker generated a whopping $90 in revenue for that website, which launched later than the others. The partnership’s single website did however take in $427,000 from its casino operation. Overall, the loser of the first six companies to deliver Web gambling to New Jersey was definitely the Golden Nugget. The storied Atlantic City casino was the base of operations for Golden Nugget brands which took down just $177,000 total, offering Atlantic City online casino gambling without a poker product.
The Trump Taj Mahal, teaming up with Ultimate Poker, earned $883,000 ($778,000 from casino gambling and $104,000 from poker), with the Tropicana pulling in $748,000 from a casino only operation. Industry analysts had predicted that anything under $6 million of revenue generated in the short six week initial period of 2013 online gambling in New Jersey would be considered a failure, and anything over $10 million would be viewed as an extreme success. $8.4 million is respectable, and with Revel and Resorts looking to join the fray in early 2014, online gambling in New Jersey is predicted to become more financially viable and pervasive.