iGaming Business – Delaware officials have announced that online gambling in the US state generated just $253,000 (€185,048) during its first two months of operations.
According to the Delaware Online news website, the figures leave Delaware well short of its goal of generating $5 million in revenue during the first year of online gambling.
The state will collect 100% of the first $3.5 million generate in online gaming revenue, meaning that casinos in Delaware are yet to receive any of the income.
Despite being only the second state in the US to legalise online gambling, Delaware is yet to attract the same levels of interest that has been recorded in fellow regulated states New Jersey and Nevada.
As of January 23, Delaware was averaging just 18 players online at any given time during the previous seven days. Popular websites in Nevada and New Jersey record an average of several hundred players.
In addition, as of the end of December 2013, only around 4,000 people had registered for online gaming in Delaware.
However, fellow regulated states have also reported that revenue is below expectations, with New Jersey recording a drop in total gaming revenue despite the introduction of online gambling, as reported by iGaming Business.
Despite the slow start, Delaware officials remain optimistic about online gambling’s potential.
“In and of itself, it’s not going to be the thing that solves everybody’s financial issues,” Delaware Lottery director Vernon Kirk said. “It’s a piece of the puzzle, and it’s got a lot of potential.”
Kirk has cited a number of reasons for the state’s slow start to online gaming, such as the refusal of some financial institutions to process online gambling transactions and ongoing issues with geolocation services.
In an attempt to combat these problems, Kirk said that the state had held “preliminary discussions” with Nevada and New Jersey about forming an interstate partnership that would allow punters to play across state lines.
Kirk also said that the state plans to expand its online gaming offering by adding craps and other games during the course of 2014.
Delaware’s gambling industry struggled in 2013 with the state experiencing its worst casino gambling revenue performance since 2000.
Casinos in the state generated $406 million in revenue during the past year, which is a significant drop on the $526 million achieved in 2012.
