As the state of New Jersey moves to welcome PokerStars to its online gambling landscape, the state’s gaming authority published record revenue numbers from the industry for the month of February 2016. According to the Garden State’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, licensed online gambling sites saw revenue climb 42% year on year compared to February 2015, generating $14.7 million last month. Numbers also grew month on month, despite the fact that there were less days in February than there were in January. Licensed gaming sites saw revenues climb by $100,000 in February.
The main sector to impact these numbers was undoubtedly the online casino side of the industry, which saw growth of 52.6% to $12.75 million. Of that number, $4.24 million was generated by the entity made up of Borgata, Bwin-Party and Pala Interactive. Caesars Entertainment contributed $3.23 million, slightly ahead of the $3.05 million recorded by the Tropicana.
Although Resorts Digital Gaming had been enjoying steady growth in its online casino revenue sector since it launched a year ago, the group saw numbers dip for the first time from $1.43 million in January to $1.32 million last year. Resorts will launch with PokerStars New Jersey this week, and its numbers are set to rise because of its new deal with parent group, Amaya Gaming.
The less exciting news is that online poker continued to perform poorly in New Jersey revenue dropping 7% month on month.
Moving to the performance of Atlantic City land casinos, revenue was up 14.7% year on year. The Gaming Enforcement Division said that the eight existing terrestrial casinos reported on revenues of $204.7 million in February. Six of the eight casinos posted increases, while Trump Taj Mahal and Caesars dropped 1% and 8.3% respectively.
Borgata won the highest numbers both through its live casino and its online gambling offerings.
“We were very pleased with February’s results, having a record slot month combined with exceptional results in table games and poker,” said the casino’s senior vice president, Joe Lupo.
The chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, Matt Levinson said: “It’s always positive to see casino revenues going up, and there were a lot of factors that combined to make February a good month.”
“Compared to last year, the weather was great and with Leap Year, last month had one extra day,” added the chairman.
