New Jersey may have been reaping the rewards of entering the tri-state poker network initially, with Caesars taking the lead in revenue, knocking PokerStars out of the way. Yet, while this was all fine and well, it seems as though things haven’t really been moving in such a highly positive way for the interstate poker network on the whole.
Since the state entered the shared-liquidity pool on May 1, revenue may have increased at specific online poker rooms and casinos within New Jersey, but Nevada and Delaware – the two other states participating in such – have seen very little change. Could help be on the way for the network, though?
While Pennsylvania has been making its own strides towards expanding its online gambling presence, it still remains unclear as to whether or not the state will be entering the shared poker network. Regulators within The Keystone State haven’t made mention of whether they are or aren’t interested in becoming the fourth to become a part of it. Yet, if it does occur, revenue could increase in each of the other three states as well. Why? Because Pennsylvania plays home to 12.8 million people, making it the fifth-largest populace within the United States.
As it stands for the moment, the regulators within Pennsylvania are keeping their mouths closed on a potential entry for the state. Instead, reviews and approvals of online gambling licence applications have been taking up most of their efforts.
Is It Really Necessary for Pennsylvania to Enter Shared-Liquidity Network?
Even though the poker market within New Jersey itself is far from dying, revenue hasn’t actually increased by all that much since the state entered into the shared-liquidity network. It does remain as the most-profitable online gambling state within the US, even bringing in $1.9 million in rake from poker sites in May. Yet, this is $200,000 less than the same month from the previous year. In June, this revenue fell to $1.7 million and July figures only increased slightly to $1.8 million.
In 2017, New Jersey’s internet poker platforms brought in over $2 million for five months out of the year. However, the figures have not reached the $2 million mark once in 2018 so far. Of course, there’s still enough time for the online poker sector within The Garden State to turn around, although the merger into the shared-liquidity network hasn’t really gone as many people hoped it would, as far as revenue is concerned.
Many experts have said that due to the lack of matching poker sites in New Jersey and Nevada, this could be causing the struggle. New Jersey offers up PokerStars, WSOP.com, 888 and Partypoker options. As anyone in the online poker world knows, these are four of the biggest-known poker brands. However, WSOP.com is the only legal and active poker site within Nevada, which means that only people playing from the WSOP.com sites in Nevada and New Jersey can play against one another in the shared liquidity network.
