New Jersey Experiences All-Time High In Online Poker RevenueDespite Jump In Online Gaming Revenue, COVID-19 Casino Shutdown Broke 21-Month Streak Of Revenue Increases |
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With the coronavirus making its way to American soil and shutting down brick-and-mortar gambling, online poker surged to record levels in the Garden State in March.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced that Atlantic City would shut down all of its brick-and-mortar casinos a month ago, which forced gamblers online and generated record levels of revenue.
Online poker raked in $3.6 million in revenue, the most in state’s history. The previous record was $3.4 million from January 2014. It’s a whopping 90.6 percent increase year-over-year after March 2019 only generated $1.9 million from the online felt.
It’s important to note that the casino shutdown was only for half of March, so April’s online revenue will likely smash this record.
Online table games brought in $61.2 million, while online sports betting tallied $13.1 million in revenue. The online casino numbers were up 64.4 percent, but the sports betting numbers represented a 58.4 percent drop. Most of New Jersey’s sports betting is done online anyway and all major American professional sports ceased operating around the same time as the casino shutdowns.
During the more than two weeks that casinos were open, however, the state’s nine casinos generated $85.5 million, according to numbers released by the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement. It brings the gross gaming revenue from all New Jersey outlets to $163.5 million.
The figure represents a 44.4 percent drop from March 2019. The decline came as expected once the casinos were closed. The falling revenue snapped a 21-month streak of increasing gaming revenues in New Jersey.
“As a surprise to no one during this crisis, the March revenue numbers show the dramatic impact of the closures,” chairman of the Casino Control Commission James Plousis told the Press of Atlantic City. “I know that, at this time, the paramount concern for all of the casino licensees in Atlantic City is the safety of their employees and customers. I share their concern.”
Gov. Murphy has yet to announce a date when the Atlantic City casinos will reopen.
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