Ever since online poker was banned in the U.S, there have been huge protests from the online poker community who feel that they have been dealt an unfair hand. So when states like Nevada and New Jersey lifted the ban on online poker, everyone expected a massive spike in online poker traffic and revenue.
Nevada led from the front and was the first state to legalize online poker and offered licences to a number of companies who were competing fiercely with each other to capture a significant market share in Nevada. However, the initial data collected proves that the online poker market in Nevada has not performed as per initial expectations.
The first monthly report reveals that the online poker market has only surpassed bingo and slot machines and sports betting games still bring in more revenue than online poker.
Due to the slow progress in online poker, a number of online gaming companies have been hesitant to launch their operations. Based on the initial approval of their licenses, these companies were supposed to kick-start operations in Nevada within a 6 month period.
However, the state Gaming Control Board decided to grant them an extension on their internet poker licenses as most of these companies wanted to monitor the online poker market for a longer period of time before launching their operations.
As of now there are only three companies that are licensed to offer online poker in the state of Nevada. They are Caesars Entertainment, Fertitta Interactive, which is a part of Station Casinos and South Point. Collecting in the month of February, these companies generated a gross revenue of $824,000 which surpassed Bingo by $490,000 only.
There are a number of reasons why online poker has been slow to pick up in Nevada. Players have taken to popular poker forums to voice their concerns. A number of issues have been raised from the new restrictions which limit their freedom, software glitches that prevent them from logging in or playing continuously and the limited competition that is available in these online poker rooms.
Jeff Silver, an attorney that represents the Carson Station in Carson City and Max in Las Vegas said that
the online poker scene is pretty dismal. Reports showed that at one point of time there were only 150 players playing poker online when a minimum of 500 players are required
However, the Gaming Control Board is Nevada is positive that things will quickly improve. Both Nevada and Delaware have recently entered into an inter-state collaboration that will help to increase the player pool and boost revenues for both states. Only time will tell as how to effective this online poker strategy turns out to be.
