Shifts in Global Gambling Yields as US market per capita outshines UK overall gambling market, while PA becomes the largest iGaming state! (Image from Ben Cheung on Pexels.com)
Financial yields from iGaming are always an interesting topic and this week there has been some major news covering the UK and the ever-changing dynamics of the US iGaming market.
The UK Land-Based & Online Gambling Dips 10%
Overall land-based establishments and online gambling platforms in the UK total GGY added together have shown a drop of 10%. The main cause was the ‘real events’ market dropping 40% in GGY compared to February 2022, while online slots propped up the entire UK gambling market, accounting for over 50% of the total gross gambling yield in the UK. That reported yield was £ 363 million for March 2022 and slots accounted for £ 193 million.
Pennsylvania’s iGaming Market Surpasses New Jersey
Since the NJ iGaming market opened in 2013, it has ruled as the largest market in the US. However, for many years it didn’t have much competition, considering Delaware was the only other legal market that has a population one-tenth of New Jersey’s 9 million. However, in 2019, Pennsylvania (The Keystone State) came online, targeting a population of 13 million. With its larger population, it still wasn’t a given that PA would overtake NJ, but it has finally happened for the first time in April 2022.
PA iGaming generated a total of $ 138 million versus New Jersey’s $ 137 million. Both markets remain close in terms of casino and online poker revenue with a mere $ 1 million between them.
Michigan Posts Record Month
Another casino market that is slightly larger than New Jersey in terms of population, but smaller than Pennsylvania, is Michigan, which targets a population of 10 million. Over the course of April, it took in its highest revenue since the iGaming market opened in January 2021. The total number recorded is $13 million.
Comparing the 3 largest iGaming markets in the US, the revenues reported throughout April are all extremely close, while their populations are not that far apart either. Could the $ 130 to $140 million be where these iGaming markets stabilise? Or is there room for more growth? This month’s results will be interesting to see when they are published in mid-June.
US iGaming Outperforms UK: US iGaming markets are performing well, and when compared with the UK’s combined income of £ 363 million, targeting a population of 67+ million. That’s $ 450 million, which means per capita, the iGaming markets in the US are outperforming the figures reported by the UKGC (UK Gambling Commission).
The Journey into Legalised Live Casino Gambling in the USA
The journey to legalise online gambling began back in 2012 and 2013, when Nevada and Delaware brought online poker back online after the federal government shut down all overseas online gambling sites in 2011. New Jersey went one better in late 2013 and reinstated online casinos on top of poker.
Both NV, DE, and NJ passed legislation that overrode federal laws while also using loopholes that allowed online gambling to return via state-regulated iGaming companies. Pennsylvania (2019), West Virginia (2020), Michigan (2021), and Connecticut (2021) have all since legalized online casinos.
As long as these online poker and casino brands operated under land-based casino licensing, technically they were not breaking any laws because bets were still being placed on servers inside a licensed gambling venue.
However, interestingly none of these virtual establishments creates their own games, yet they offer hundreds of video slots, virtual table games, and live casino games via B2B deals with software providers. As a result, it is the game providers that decide the mechanics of each live casino game and the level of human interaction.
Currently, in the live casino sector, Evolution and Playtech are the 2 main players. Evolution now has studios in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey. Playtech is operating in Michigan and New Jersey. Also, Ezugi which is owned by the Evolution live dealer platform, operates studios in New Jersey. Casinos connect to these live dealer brands’ casino studios to stream games on their platforms via a B2B business deal. This means the casino does not need to take any responsibility for the game itself and can concentrate on offering bonus deals and promotions to attract players to play on these live tables.
How does the casino make money? The B2B deal comes with a profit-sharing agreement. The casino takes a percentage of the profits, and the software provider takes a cut. The same deal is in place with other online casino games, such as slots and virtual table games found at these online casinos.
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