The New Jersey online gaming market saw significant growth in both online poker and casino games in 2016. In poker, the market grew by 11.3% year-on-year, with the declines at the established operators more than offset with the launch of PokerStars.
Online Poker
The year got off to a rough start, with both WSOP/888 and the partypoker/Borgata networks posting declining year-on-year revenue numbers. Then came PokerStars, partnered with Resorts, which launched mid-way through March. For the remainder of the year, combined revenue across all operators each month was up on the same period in 2015.
While from April onward the Resorts/PokerStars partnership boasted the highest revenue each month, the Borgata/partypoker pair just out-pipped its rival in total revenue for the year.
| Borgata | $9,190,069 |
| Resorts | $8,720,510 |
| Caesars | $8,601,046 |
In total, operators collected $26.5m in revenue last year, up $2.7m on the $23.8m collected in 2015. Still, the figure fell short of the $29.0m recorded in the market’s first full year of operation in 2014.
The year ended on a flat month. Only the combined efforts of WSOP and 888 under the Caesars license produced month-on-month gains; the other two declined. A total of $2.1m was collected in the final month of the year, up on November by just 0.8%, similar to the 1.36% jump from November to December in 2015.
December figures represent a 6% increase over the same period last year, providing a market share breakdown as follows:
| Resorts | 38.5% |
| Caesars | 31.8% |
| Borgata | 29.7% |
Online Casino Games
Online casino revenues continued to climb in 2016, growing some 36% from approximately $125 million collected in 2015 to just over $170m.
Golden Nugget was the biggest success story of 2016 in the online casino games sector, leading all five active operators in the space with a 29.4% market share based on revenue. To close out the year, Golden Nugget smashed its own previously held record of approximately $4.1m set in October by generating nearly $4.8m.
The market leader derived $42.2m in revenue from online casino games last year. Borgata and Tropicana finished neck and neck in second and third respectively, with Caesars slightly behind in fourth and Resorts bringing up the rear.
| Golden Nugget | $42,249,831 |
| Borgata | $37,824,967 |
| Tropicana | $36,983,292 |
| Caesars | $30,098,288 |
| Resorts | $23,041,329 |
Combining poker and casino, overall online gaming brought in $197m in 2016 compared to the $149m generated in 2015, growth of 32%.
This article originally appeared on Poker Industry PRO and has been republished here as a courtesy to our readers. Please visit Poker Industry PRO for more information on the industry intelligence services that are available, or email sales@pokerindustrypro.com to get a free trial.
