Online poker sites saw their revenue spike during the early days of the pandemic. However, the benefits of the pandemic shutdowns have been waning gradually since activities and operations began to normalize. With brick and mortar rooms shut down and people largely confined at home, poker sites all over the country enjoyed a boost in traffic and revenue.
But the more the world has opened up, the boost in traffic has been hanging steady. The drop of elevated levels of online gambling activity has been slow but will probably keep getting pronounced as time goes on. In comparison to other iGaming states in the country, Pennsylvania got off to a rough beginning at the advent of the market in July 2019.
It took the state quite some time before it could get up to speed and the pandemic only prolonged this further.
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Where does PA’s online poker revenue come from?
Unlike Garden State, PA has a well-established pecking order in the market leadership race. BetMGM Casino together with DraftKings Casino are partners with Penn National. This means that 2 of the top 3 online poker brands are housed together under a single room, which has made it almost impossible for any other brand to challenge Penn National as the largest revenue generator in the state.
This means that there has always been a scrum for the lower positions- typically between the smallest and newest operators. These operators include Wind Creek, TwinSpires, as well as PlayLive! Other bigger, more well-known brands operating in the market include Caesars, Unibet, BetMGM Poker, as well as Borgata Poker.
Based on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s revenue report, in October 2021, the state generated $2,854,323 in iGaming poker revenue, which was a slight increase from the $2,422,505 generated in October 2020 but a dip from the $2.92 million that was generated in September 2021.
Mount Airy Casino Resort generated the highest revenue at $1,855,834 while Harrah’s Philadelphia generated the second-largest revenue on the internet poker with $587,311 to speak of. Hollywood Casino at Penn National came 3rd at $303,110 with Rivers Casino Philadelphia trailing at $108,068.
Out of all online poker operators in PA, Borgata and BetMGM are the only ones that saw slight increases in their revenue. Both BetMGM and Borgata operate on PartyPoker’s software. WSOP and PokerStars’ revenue, on the other hand, declined slightly from September 2021. Based on reports from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the 4 online poker rooms in the state generated $2.92 million, a drop from the $3.2 million produced in August 2021.
August was one of the best months of the year for online gambling operators in PA as the state celebrated reaching a plateau of $400 million in gaming revenues. Being able to maintain such good gaming revenues consistently demonstrates the potential of the market. As long as the state can maintain these revenues, more and more operators will want to participate in PA’s jurisdiction.
Of course, those that stand to benefit the most from the increased competition are the players themselves. Already, PA players have access to WSOP and PokerStars, which are brands that are known for throwing large competing online poker series that offer millions in guarantees. For the online poker sites in the country to compete hard for the growing poker market, they must do their best to step up their marketing and customer service in a major way.
Though PA’s online poker market should be thriving from these tournaments, WSOP’s revenue in October was impacted negatively by unmet guarantees during its Fall Online Championship Series. During the Fall online championship, only a single event with a guarantee of an excess of $5000 reached its promise.
This series is also on WSOP Nevada, as well as WSOP NJ- both of which share player polls with each other. In Nevada and New Jersey, the series managed to meet all but one of the guarantees they had made. It is worth noting that even though WSOP NJ and Nevada both managed to meet all their guarantees, online poker revenue in both states also seems to be in decline as well.
Case in point, New Jersey generated $2.4 million in October 2021, which was almost $100,000 less than what was generated in September. Nonetheless, the revenue in the Garden State has remained steady throughout the year based on reports from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Online gaming revenue total
In total, the online gambling revenue in October, which also consists of online poker reached $103 million across the state’s 10 casinos. Please note that the online gaming revenue does not include sportsbooks. However, this was a 72% boost compared to the same period in October 2020.
The online poker sites operating in the state are partners with 4 physical casinos counting Hollywood Casino at Penn National, which is affiliated with BetMGM. Mt. Airy is aligned to Borgata and PokerStars while Harrah’s is partnered up with WSOP. Online gambling has boosted the revenue greatly for physical locations that are still trying their best to go back to generating pre-pandemic revenue.
In particular, Hollywood Casino, which appears to have the highest number of partnerships generated $20 million in October. However, only $303,000 of this amount was acquired from online poker. River’s online casino generated the second-highest amount in the state, coming in at $26 million with only $108,000 of this cash acquired from online poker.
Across the pond, online gambling revenue in New Jersey, including online poker, for October reached $127 million, which was an increase of $5 million from the previous month. In total, New Jersey’s total gross from betting was $448 million with casinos generating a huge income thanks to their online table games and slots. Online poker in New Jersey still remains a niche vertical.
Final Thoughts
Unlike other states, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is unique; in that, it is the only regulator in the country that separates online casino revenue between table and slot games since the 2 verticals are taxed differently. Poker is also treated as a separate vertical.
At the start of the pandemic, online poker revenue shot through the roof. However, now that the infection rates have reduced greatly and people are spending less time gambling online, iGaming and online poker are not as popular as they once were.
