According to figures newly released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), while online casino winnings were up over 23 percent in comparison with June 2006, online poker raked in its worst revenue haul since the regulated market was established in late 2013.
Despite the advent of new “recreational friendly” games like lottery sit-and-gos, which are designed to boost player engagement, poker brought in just $1,735,634 for the month. The previous all-time-low was September 2015’s $1,771,123, before PokerStars entered the market.
PokerStars entrance in March 2016 was expected to reinvigorate the poker vertical, but apart from an initial short burst of enthusiasm, the online poker giant failed to trigger New Jersey’s poker boom.
The highest ever online poker haul was January 2014’s $3,442,271, shortly after the market launched.