Delaware Online Gambling Flat While Nevada Down in August

Delaware Park leads the state in online gambling revenues for August. (Image: delawarepark.com)

Delaware online gambling revenues remained almost exactly the same in August as they were in July, rising 0.2 percent month-over-month. However, there was more positive news from the online poker sites in the state, which saw their revenues increase by 23 percent as the market continues to bounce back from its summer lows.

In total, the state s Internet gambling operations took in $172,854.50, or about $350 more than they did in July. Market leader saw gains for the month, while Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway saw revenues decline. While the overall amount wagered actually increased by 16 percent, players also won back a higher percentage of their bets than in July.

While the overall numbers were pedestrian, there was some good news from the poker rooms. The three rooms took in a combined $38,654 in revenue for August, up from $31,261 in July. That makes two straight months of more than 20 percent growth for the state s poker sites, which seemed to be on the verge of losing all of their traffic back in June.

Even after the increase, though, the poker rooms still seem to be underperforming when compared to the poker rooms in Nevada and New Jersey. Participation rates, even after adjusting for equivalent population, are much better in those larger states, though that s likely due to them having enough players to draw on to support poker rooms. By contrast, Delaware may just be too small to keep a critical mass of poker games running at any given time, limiting the potential for their rooms to grow.

In Nevada, there are at least two poker rooms that seem to be flourishing, but their revenues dropped significantly in August. Coming off of June and July numbers that were heavily inflated thanks to players visiting for the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Nevada s online poker revenues were down more than 22 percent month-over-month in August, dropping to $742,000.

That decline was expected, as few thought the market wouldn t lose traffic with the end of the WSOP. Generally, online poker traffic drops in the summer, while Nevada experienced the opposite trend because of the live poker festival. For a time during the World Series, in Nevada was the largest regulated poker room in America, even surpassing the top New Jersey rooms for that honor.

The drop may have been larger than hoped for, however. The August Internet poker revenues were the lowest so far in 2014, coming in about $50,000 short of the previous low set in April. Overall, online poker sites have earned $7.1 million in revenues this year through August for Nevada.

There may be changes on the horizon that could improve these numbers in both states. In the months to come, 888 is expected to launch an All American Poker Network (AAPN) site in Nevada that would share traffic with WSOP.com. That could also be joined by an 888-powered skin from Treasure Island casino, which would also share the same player pool. In addition, the Nevada-Delaware online poker compact could go into effect by early 2015, which would allow these 888 sites to then share traffic with the Delaware network, which is exclusively operated using 888 software.