The State of Online Poker in New Jersey in 2020

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 02/16/2020

Jerry Smith Staff Writer See Full Bio

Jerry’s greatest advantage is his extensive experience on the casino floor. His time as a casino manager taught him everything about what makes a player tick. Besides being a skilled poker player, he has deep knowledge of all live table games and gambling regulations in the US.

New Jersey to witness a steady rise in revenues from online poker, Photo by pxfuel

Calculations of the Division of Gaming Enforcement show that online poker in New Jersey brought in revenues of over $1.8 million in January 2020. WSOP NJ, as well as 888poker, which holds 39% share of the market and is part of the All-American Poker Network, proved to be leaders of the market, bringing in revenue of $718k.

Closely following these two poker rooms was PokerStars NJ, which holds 35% of the market share, and brought in a revenue of $635k. The partypoker network rooms such as BetMGM, partypoker NJ, and Borgata Poker reported revenues of $479k, making up 26% of the market share.

January’s revenue gains exceeded that of several months prior, as it has always been a high revenue-generating month for the online poker scene in New Jersey. Despite the gains experienced, the overall market has been found to decline each year with the January 2020 revenue falling by 2.7% from the previous year and showing a decline each year, except for 2017, when revenue growth by 8.7% was experienced as PokerStars got added to the market. AAPN saw a drop by 1% in 2019 while the partypoker network saw a drop by 2%, and PokerStars NJ was down by 5%.

Despite the declines experienced, the online poker market in New Jersey seems to be gaining stability, with a reduction in the intensity of the down months for the industry for two years now. Without changes to the market landscape, which included the Wire Act case resolution, New Jersey’s 2020 online poker market can be expected to witness multiple growth months, keeping the total revenue from online poker in the state at more than the $20-million-mark for the year.

According to David Schwartz, Gambling Historian, University of Nevada, “The revenue increase is a positive. Right now the industry should be in ‘grow the market’ mode rather than seeking to consolidate profits, so a decrease in profits isn’t necessarily the worst news we could get.”

While revenue figures on a monthly basis may change due to the running of online poker tournament series or even successful promotions, observations for revenue generated and trends to affect New Jersey’s online poker market in 2020 include:

The anticipation of January outperforming December, while February is expected to bring in lesser revenue than January, and revenue generation from March is expected to be better than both January as well as February, as has been the case for the past four years.
April is expected to see a decline in revenue as compared to February as per past trends, although 2016 saw a rise in revenue in April due to the return of PokerStars to the US. May is expected to bring in a revenue rebound.
The revenue for June is anticipated to exceed that of May, thanks to the World Series of Poker action being held in Nevada, as well as WSOP online events in New Jersey, which are expected to boost the AAPN’s revenue for June. July is anticipated to see a rise in revenue more than June as well as August, while September and November are expected to be the lowest revenue-generating months of the year. October and December are expected to be months that see a rebound in revenue generated in 2020.
The dispute between the New Hampshire Lottery and the US Department of Justice regarding the Wire Act is also expected to impact revenue in the state.