Delaware Online Poker And iGaming Show Strong Growth Streaks In July

September 7th, 2016 | by Kaycee James

Delaware online poker continued strong growth in July and even managed to post record profits for the month.

Summer is often a time when online bettors step out into the sunlight and do something else with their spare time.

A positive summer for Delaware iGaming, but more deals need to be done. (Image: delawarenotaryassociation.org)

This often causes a downswing for online operators, but despite this fact, Delaware’s collection of sites performed admirably in July.

Year On Year Improvements

A total profit haul worth $281,000 in July, which was $139,000 more than the same period in 2015 and $109,000 more than July 2014.

The state’s iGaming economy was led by the video lotteries which generated $161,000 in profit, and was followed up by online poker adding $33,000 to the state coffers.

Fortunately, lotteries are a part of the iGaming numbers and it’s this contribution that allowed Delaware Park, Harrington Raceway and Dover Downs to add $5,000 to the overall figures from July of the previous year.

As impressive as the latest numbers are in light of traditional market conditions in Delaware, it is still a far cry from New Jersey in terms of overall iGaming performance.

That can be expected considering that Delaware has 8 million fewer citizens, but New Jersey’s iGaming take for July was more than $17 million for comparison purposes.

Delaware Needs Some of the Garden State’s Strength

While Delaware could never hope to reach those heights, it could use the strength of the Garden State to bolster its own fortunes.

A liquidity sharing pact with Nevada has certainly helped balance the books in recent months and an additional agreement with New Jersey could potentially inject some new life into the market.

In August New Jersey’s online poker operators generated more than $2 million. When you compare that number to Delaware’s $33,000, it’s clear that the First State could benefit from the current playerpool in New Jersey.

Another possibility could be an overseas liquidity sharing pact. New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement has repeatedly said that it would consider deals with regulated markets such as the UK.

Nothing has materialized so far, but with Delaware already taking direct action and agreeing to a liquidity sharing deal with Nevada, there’s no reason it couldn’t do the same with the UK.

Of course, deals like this often turn into a battle for favorable operating conditions (the larger market usually wants a better deal), but if Delaware’s regulator wants to take things to the next level these deals could be the key.

For now, players and operators can at least be happy that July was another successful month in the state’s iGaming history.