US Online Poker Down Monthly in August
The reports were relatively positive for August 2022, namely in that most revenue for US igaming increased year-on-year. Overall igaming performed well in Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
As usual, however, the same cannot be said for online poker revenue. Of the five states that offer online poker as regulated by state governments, only three – Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – provide information specific to online poker. And those three states showed a downturn for internet poker from July to August and even year-on-year for two of those three states.
The industry could definitely use a boost, which could follow the impending launch of interstate poker that will include Michigan.
Until 2022, only Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey had signed the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), and only one site operated in all three of those states – the World Series of Poker site that is WSOP.com. Michigan signed on to MSIGA earlier in 2022, but many months later, there is still no timeline for a launch of sites that will be sharing player pools between New Jersey and Michigan, like BetMGM (partypoker), PokerStars, and WSOP.
Online poker will continue to ride a roller coaster of revenue until the states make it possible to change that trajectory.
Connecticut: August 2022
While Connecticut legalized state-regulated online poker in May 2021, there are still no online poker sites licensed under that system. Not a single online poker operator has announced a partnership with a land-based casino in this state.
Delaware: August 2022
Delaware typically bucks trends and stays on its small but steady increase each month. There are exceptions, though, and August was one of them. The year-on-year numbers did stay on the rise, but the monthly online poker revenue number was down more than 15%, an unusual occurrence.
-August 2022 online poker revenue of $37,169 = down 15.4% from July, up 15% from August 2021
-August 2022 total igaming revenue of $1,296,973 = up 3.5% from July, up 37.2% from August 2021
Online registrations decreased from 1,174 in July to 1,152 in August, though the annual increase remained substantial at nearly 20%.
Michigan: August 2022
More than a year and a half since the launch of igaming, the Michigan Gaming Control Board still does not separate online poker revenue from the rest of internet gaming.
Nevertheless, the overall number does show that the steady monthly increases continue for the entire gaming sector.
-August 2022 total igaming revenue of $130,924,194 = up 3.4% from July, up 34.7% from August 2021
Taxes collected by the state from August alone amounted to $24,253,179, a slight increase from the previous month.
Nevada: August 2022
Nearly a decade after the first online poker launch, there is only one online poker site regulated by the state of Nevada. That single site does not need to report its revenue to the public, nor does the state. WSOP revenue remains a mystery.
New Jersey: August 2022
After a respectable month of July, online poker performed terribly in New Jersey last month, both on a monthly and yearly basis. In fact, even the whole of internet gaming fell in August, a rather unusual occurrence, as the internet gaming win is typically on a continual rise.
-August 2022 online poker revenue of $2,206,653 = down 3.1% from July, down 9.7% from August 2021
-August 2022 total igaming revenue of $131,438,183 = down 3.85% from July, up 16.1% from August 2021
The overall gambling market in New Jersey even fell from July to August, though its annual growth remained impressive at 10.1% to $470,686,431.
Pennsylvania: August 2022
Online gaming stayed strong in Pennsylvania in August, while the entire gaming industry sank a bit month-on-month. Yearly progress for the whole industry was on point, though. Meanwhile, online poker dipped significantly for the month and the year.
-August 2022 online poker revenue of $2,739,963 = down 0.9% from July, down 14.3% from August 2021
-August 2022 total igaming revenue of $107,180,341 = down 8.7% from July, up 20.8% from August 2021
The entirety of Pennsylvania’s online gaming industry dropped to $425,390,202 revenue for August, though that was still 4.24% over last year’s August total.
West Virginia: August 2022
Since West Virginia legalized online poker to be regulated by the state’s lottery organization, there has yet to be one online poker operator apply for a license and launch a site. And there is no indication that any online poker offerings are in the works in coordination with land-based casinos.
