State-Regulated US Online Poker Needs Help
The first half of 2024 was a mixed bag for state-licensed and regulated online poker in the United States market. The H1 numbers showed some growth in the poker sector only due to shared liquidity and the recent relaunch of the Caesars/WSOP poker site connecting its New Jersey, Nevada, and Michigan platforms just ahead of the summer WSOP.
Incomplete Information
The picture of US regulated online poker revenue is an incomplete one. The only states that are very transparent with the public and break out online poker from other online gaming are New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The others? Well…
- Nevada doesn’t release online poker revenue data. It is not obligated to do so by law unless there are at least three operators in that sector. Since Nevada doesn’t mandate a public accounting of online poker revenue, the only site operating in that market – Caesars/WSOP – does not reveal anything.
- Michigan breaks down its internet gaming revenue in several ways but does not separate online poker from the rest of online gaming. It does report revenue from every casino involved in this gaming sector but not with any type of games breakdown.
This all makes it difficult to compare online poker revenue on a state-by-state basis or track the impact of liquidity via the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. Incomplete data for a still-small and struggling market doesn’t help tell an accurate story about it.
Delaware: No Current Online Poker
New in 2024 is the absence of all online poker revenue in Delaware.
The Delaware Lottery is very reliable in posting monthly gaming revenue information, even breaking down the numbers by poker and other forms of gaming. The problem this year is not with the regulator but the poker provider (or lack thereof).
Delaware’s initial ten-year contract with 888poker ended in the middle of 2023. The singular online poker and gambling provider, which connected the only three land-based racinos in the state, did use the same platform as Caesars/WSOP, so there was an affiliation between Delaware’s online poker and that in sister states like Nevada. Even so, the 888poker site in Delaware could not offer its players any WSOP bracelet events or WSOP Circuit events despite its participation.
Upon the end of the Delaware Lottery’s contract with 888poker, there was a decision to take the igaming realm in the state in a different direction. The regulator awarded the new contract to Rush Street Interactive, a company that had previously purchased Phil Galfond’s Run It Once Poker. Many anticipated that the new online poker sites would launch near the beginning of 2024 with Run It Once software.
More than halfway through 2024, this has yet to happen. There has been no indication of a potential launch, no talk whatsoever about the return of online poker to Delaware.
It should be noted that the new contract for general igaming with Rush Street has propelled online gaming revenue to new heights in 2024. Delaware saw a jump of nearly 200% in igaming revenue in January 2024, and growth continued for several months, albeit at a fraction of that rate. May and June saw some decreases, but the new igaming contract appears to be a positive trend for Delaware overall.
Poker players continue to wait for word about online poker in Delaware.
- Total Delaware online poker revenue in 2023: $421,579
- Total Delaware online poker revenue in first half of 2024: $0
- Total Delaware igaming in 2023: $14,073,457
- Total Delaware igaming in first half of 2024: $25,273,343 (on point to surpass $50M this year, more than tripling the previous year)
Michigan: Poker Going Strong, Apparently
It appears that Michigan online poker is doing well. We can only assume, though, as online poker revenue is included in the broader category of igaming. The lack of detail in the revenue breakdowns makes it impossible to know how online poker is performing.
As a whole, igaming revenue continues to grow. Year-on-year numbers are consistently up by an average of 20% to 25%. Monthly, there were only two dips in the first half of 2024: April and June. The April dip mimics a parallel monthly drop in April 2023. On a high note, March 2024 saw igaming revenue hit an all-time monthly high of $215M.
- Total Michigan igaming in 2023: $1,923,857,570
- Total Michigan igaming in first half of 2024: $1,159,805,093 (on point to surpass $2.3B this year)
New Online Poker in Michigan, Kinda
In a surprising move, DraftKings inserted an online poker game into its online casino client. The game is called Electric Poker, and it plays for real money. However, according to Pokerfuse, the games are found only in the casino lobby and operate as three-handed jackpot SNGs. The prize pool is at the mercy of a random multiplier, and players only choose their own moves for the first few blind levels. At that point, it becomes all-in poker on every hand.
This appears to be something experimental for DraftKings. The launch of an entire poker client in a space dominated by WSOP, BetMGM, and PokerStars would probably not be worth the investment, but the incorporation of a poker game into its casino could be beneficial.
BetMGM Shared Liquidity?
In Michigan, PokerStars combined its New Jersey and Michigan sites in January 2023. A year and a half later, WSOP combined its Michigan site with Nevada and New Jersey right at the start of the 2024 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. BetMGM has yet to combine its Michigan and New Jersey sites.
There had been rumblings of BetMGM connecting its MI and NJ poker sites in 2024, but only a few months remain in the year. There has been no official word on the progress of this merge.
Nevada: Still a One-Operator Market
The Nevada online poker market remains a monopoly for WSOP. It is unclear if PokerStars has taken any steps to try to obtain an online poker license in Nevada. As for BetMGM, the other major player in the still-youthful US market, it did receive its latest online poker license renewal in May of this year, courtesy of Entain, which owns its partypoker software. With the approval of the Nevada Gaming Commission, BetMGM can move forward with a launch and – possibly – connect its eventual Nevada poker site with its sister sites in Michigan and New Jersey. Again, though, there has been no word from BetMGM on any progress or movement at all in that arena.
Meanwhile, the public has no idea how the Nevada online poker market brings in revenue, as WSOP has no obligation to report it. Unless and until there are at least three operators in the market, the WSOP online site does not have to reveal its revenue. So, it doesn’t.
To that end, the Nevada market remains a monopoly with no public transparency regarding revenue.
New Jersey: Slow but Steady Poker Progress
It always seems to be a struggle for the New Jersey market to grow its online poker sector. Online casino games – the entirety of igaming – see fairly consistent growth from month to month and definitely year to year. But the only way that poker online will grow is through liquidity. This means that New Jersey players must simply wait for other states and operators to do what is necessary to connect the states’ poker platforms.
On the plus side, online poker revenue is steady for the state. Every month, poker delivers a minimum of $2M in revenue. While only a small portion of the nine-figure revenue from igaming, its consistency does matter.
Welcome, Liquidity!
In the first six months of 2024, online poker had its usual swings. The one noticeable uptick was in June and on into July. This corresponded with the WSOP connecting its Nevada, Michigan, and New Jersey sites together. It happened at the end of May and beginning of June, just as the World Series of Poker began, and the high traffic and lure of WSOP bracelets brought in much better numbers for New Jersey. After two months of a downswing, New Jersey online poker revenue grew nearly 15% in June and continued with a 6.5% rise in July. The rest of the year will clarify the long-term effect.
The other connection that New Jersey awaits is that of the BetMGM sites. BetMGM Poker is on the path to bring its Michigan and New Jersey players together onto one platform. Again, it is unclear as to when that might happen, but there is always hope that it could happen in the last quarter of 2024.
Online Casino Hitting a Ceiling?
While not a major concern, the online casino market may have hit a ceiling of sorts. The totality of igaming revenue typically hits only a few snags per year, with the majority of months showing growth. Year-on-year growth is consistent, but on a monthly basis, revenue has been on very much of a roller coaster. The swings are not serious, but it’s noticeable.
As long as yearly growth continues, igaming will shirk off talk of hitting a ceiling. And perhaps more online poker liquidity will translate into a return to a steadier rise in igaming revenue overall.
- Total New Jersey online poker revenue in 2023: $28,915,314
- Total New Jersey online poker revenue in first half of 2024: $14,067,193
- Total New Jersey igaming in 2023: $1,923,742,067
- Total New Jersey igaming in first half of 2024: $1,129,610,229 (on point to surpass $2.2B this year, the first year ever to eclipse the $2B mark)
Pennsylvania Stands Alone
For whatever reason, Pennsylvania has yet to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. And all efforts to make it happen or at least find out why Pennsylvania won’t sign MSIGA have been futile.
It’s an oddity in this new US online poker market. Pennsylvania legalized online poker and a broad range of igaming in 2017. It did take some time to build the regulatory framework, as PokerStars didn’t launch there until late 2019, BetMGM/partypoker in spring 2021, and WSOP later in 2021. But the PA online poker business has been running now for years. Those on the PA Gaming Control Board fully understand the need for liquidity to grow that market.
As Michigan legalized online poker, signed MSIGA, and allowed its sites full license to share liquidity, Pennsylvania remained unmoved.
Most Lawmakers Ignore Liquidity
Earlier in 2024, PA State Representative George Dunbar and some cosponsors introduced a bill to specifically give the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board the implicit right to enter into interactive gaming agreements. He was hoping the push would inform other lawmakers about the revenue being missed, and he wanted to push all parties into action. HB.2078 would have, in fact, required the PGCB to take action to enter MSIGA within 30 days of the amendment’s enactment.
After that bill failed to gain any traction, another path appeared. Senate Republicans had been speaking with PA Governor Josh Shapiro about a skill games bill to apply a daily slot machine tax and establish a state-run gaming fund to garner more revenue from the state. While this doesn’t apply to online poker, Dunbar told Pokerfuse that he would attempt to get HB.2078 attached to that bill in order to get it passed.
Revenue Drops and Drops
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania online poker revenue suffers, continuing on a monthly and yearly downswing that has yet to level off in 2024. It started in August 2022, when year-on-year numbers dropped 14.3%, followed by 9% in September, nearly 13% in October, and so on. That trend continued for year-on-year numbers every month in 2023. The bleeding now continues into 2024, with year-on-year revenue dropping each month anywhere from 8% to 14%. The lack of online poker liquidity is reducing revenue by millions of dollars each year.
While igaming as a whole in Pennsylvania continues to grow month over month and year over year, it could be doing much better with online poker liquidity in place.
- Total Pennsylvania online poker revenue in 2023: $30,9574,377
- Total Pennsylvania online poker revenue in first half of 2024: $14,453,519
- Total Pennsylvania igaming in 2023: $1,741,832,719
- Total Pennsylvania igaming in first half of 2024: $1,028,444,182 (on point to surpass $2B this year, the first year ever to eclipse the $2B mark)
The Others
There are others! Three other states have legalized online poker. Why don’t we hear about them? Well, they don’t actually offer any online poker.
Connecticut legalized online poker as a part of its Public Act 21-23 in 2021 that expanded various forms of online gambling. There are online casinos and online sportsbooks that are licensed and available to people in Connecticut. However, the state’s regulator has yet to sign MSIGA, which is the key to bringing online poker sites to the state, as its population doesn’t warrant online poker operations in that small market alone.
Rhode Island passed a bill to legalize igaming in the summer of 2023. One year later, there is no sign of online poker despite online casinos launching in the first quarter of 2024.
West Virginia legalized online poker and casino games in 2019, and the first online casinos launched the following year. As in Connecticut, though, the population alone doesn’t warrant an online poker operation. But West Virginia knows that, so Governor Jim Justice did sign on to MSIGA in late 2023. Nearly one year later, though, there is no indication that any poker operator has been working with the West Virginia Lottery to obtain a license and set up for a launch.
