Borgata continues to lead growing New Jersey online gaming market

New Jersey’s nascent online gaming market generated gross gaming revenue of $9.5m in January, an increase of 28 per cent versus the previous month, with the Borgata maintaining its market-leading position.

According to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) yesterday, the Borgata recorded internet gaming win of $3.9m, an increase of 16 per cent month-on-month.

New Jersey Internet Gaming Win - January 2014

The Borgata continues to dominate the market through its three bwin.party-powered sites, holding a 41 per cent share, although Caesars Interactive has closed the gap and now holds a 32 per cent share of the market (up from 27 per cent in December).

Borgata-branded sites (Borgatacasino.com and Borgatapoker.com) accounted for $2.7m of its total, up 15 per cent compared to December 2013, with Partypoker accounting for the remaining $1.2m.

Boyd Gaming president and CEO Keith Smith said that the Borgata’s market-leading performance was testament to the quality of its online product and the power of the Borgata brand.

“These results also once again demonstrate online gaming's potential to expand our business,” said Smith. “About 85 per cent of our online players have not had rated play at Borgata in at least two years, showing there is little overlap with our land-based business.

“Online gaming is growing our database, creating a long-term opportunity to market Borgata to an entirely new group of customers.”

Tom Ballance, the Borgata’s president and chief operating officer, added: “As we continue to refine our technology, we believe there is significant upside to our business.”

Ballance said that the company is scheduled to roll out Android mobile gaming apps shortly, following the launch of iPhone and iPad apps last month.

“As Borgata expands into mobile gaming, we believe we will further grow our business and the overall market,” he said.

Caesars closed gap on the market-leaders, with internet gaming win increasing by 49 per cent to $3.0m compared to December, while Trump Taj Mahal’s Ucasino.com maintains third position with $0.9m in revenue – still some way behind the top two.

Tropicana’s two Gamesys-powered sites saw revenue climb 39 per cent to $0.8m, while Trump Plaza’s Betfaircasino.com generated $0.6m in revenue, up 39 per cent month-on-month. Bally-powered Golden Nugget recorded growth of 62 per cent although revenue remains under $0.3m.

As of January 31st, a total of 197,782 internet gaming accounts have been created since the beginning of soft play on November 21st of last year. This is an increase of 57 per cent or 71,551 accounts compared to the end of December.

Overall, total gaming win from casino hotels and internet gaming operations in New Jersey amounted to $195.7m, a decline of 5 per cent year-on-year. Revenue was negative impacted by the closure of the Atlantic Club Casino on January 12th.