It’s safe to say that online poker hasn’t been the boom that Nevada’s government envisioned when they legalized the game in early 2013. Over 10 months into the launch, their poker market is estimated to be earning between $200k and $500k in monthly revenue. With these relatively low figures, Nevada have taken to expansion and an interstate poker pact to boost revenue.
Last month, South Point Casino launched Real Gaming, the state’s third internet poker network, behind WSOP.com and Ultimate Poker. Marred with reported software bugs and subpar graphics, Real Gaming have failed to generate any substantial traffic so far. And as for the interstate deal with Delaware, this may create a small amount of growth in revenue. However, Delaware only has a population of 917,000 people, and they pull in just $150k a month in internet gaming revenue.
Taking everything here into account, Nevada’s poker revenue is unlikely to grow much until they can link up with some bigger states and player pools. But don’t expect this to slow down the number of companies wanting to enter the market.
888′s All American Poker Network (AAPN), which are the only operator in Delaware, will be hoping to launch in Nevada soon. American Casino & Entertainment Properties (ACEP) would like to be another player in the Silver State. ACEP currently operate Ace Play, a free poker site that uses Ongame software, and they want to offer real money games before the end of 2014. One more company that’s interested in Nevada is bwin.party. They’ve gotten off to a very good start in New Jersey with the Party Borgata network and, assuming they get licensed soon, could be a sixth poker entity in the Silver State.
Of course, it can’t be stressed enough how limited the current Nevada online poker market is. According to PokerScout, WSOP.com is the leader with an average of 110 cash game players per hour while Ultimate Poker closely trails them with 80 cash players an hour. And as mentioned before, Real Gaming have failed to attract any traffic that’s worth reporting.
An average of 190 hourly cash game players doesn’t leave much to go around – especially with 5-6 poker networks involved. But it’s almost a given that these companies aren’t expecting to profit from Nevada poker right now. The likely endgame of future networks that enter the Nevada market is to get set up for expanding interstate poker, which probably won’t happen until at least 2015.