New Jersey Online Poker Tanking While Sports Betting Triumphs

New Jersey is currently the US leader when it comes to online gambling innovation and will always hold the title as the first to legalize online poker. New Jersey is also responsible for taking on, and winning, the fight to legalize sports betting in the United States. But now that both forms of gaming are perfectly legal in the Garden State, sports betting revenues are soaring while online poker has been reduced to an afterthought.
According to recently released figures by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for September revenue, online poker revenue is at near record lows, while sports betting revenue is going through the roof. So what is going on here?
For the month of September, New Jersey’s regulated sportsbooks took in $184 million worth of wagers. That’s a massive jump from the $95.4 million they took in during August. Of course September is the first full month that included both professional and college football wagering. Regardless, this is still a very impressive number.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much good news to report from the state’s struggling online poker sector. All told, New Jersey online gambling operators collected $25.75 million in September. That’s less than $200,000 off their all time revenue record. The lion’s share of that money, however, was generated from online casino games. Online poker only generated $1.6 million, which is a record low.
Are American poker players still feeling the burn from Black Friday and reluctant to take another chance with the industry? It’s tough to say, but one thing is for certain – online poker is tanking in New Jersey while the rest of the market is getting a big boost from regulated sports betting.