Real money online poker in Pennsylvania is having a moment.
Longtime market leader, the PokerStars PA app, continues to maintain its dominance in the vertical, but the battle for second place in terms of revenue is starting to heat up, data from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) show.
The pair of operators that comprise the BetMGM Network — BetMGM Poker PA and Borgata Poker PA — still trail WSOP PA for second place, but they have significantly closed the gap since WSOP debuted in July 2021.
BetMGM, which operates under the Hollywood Casino license, grossed $364k for online poker in April, according to the PGCB. That marked a 2.3% increase month-to-month ($356k), but even more impressive is the fact that BetMGM grew its online poker revenue 46.6% year-over-year ($248k).
Borgata, on the Rivers-Philadelphia license, was the only other operator to grow online poker revenue month-over-month — it made $131k in April, up 0.5% from March ($130k). Year-over-year revenue was up a whopping 52.4% ($85k).
Things haven’t been so great over at WSOP. The operator, partnered with Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack, grossed $541k in April, down 11.9% from March ($614k) and down 29.8% from the year-ago month ($771k).
Although PokerStars — on the Mount Airy Casino license — remained atop the field, it also saw revenue decline. The perennial market leader had nearly $1.7 million in revenue in April, but that was down 6.5% month-over-month ($1.8 million). Revenue was also down 7.4% year-over-year ($1.8 million), PGCB data show.
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WSOP Losing Market Share to BetMGM Network
PGCB data show that WSOP continues to lose market share to the BetMGM Network.
WSOP held 26.5% of the online poker market in Pennsylvania in April 2022. But its market share tumbled to 21.3% in March and slid further — to just 20% — in April.
By comparison, the BetMGM Network held 11.4% of Pennsylvania’s online poker market in April 2022. It grew to 16.8% of the market in March and clinched a record 18.2% stake in the market in April.
The BetMGM Network has managed to close the gap with WSOP. After trailing WSOP by 15.1% in terms of market share one year ago, the pair of operators were 4.5% behind WSOP in March and just 1.8% behind in April. Should those trends continue, the BetMGM Network will likely be in second place in May.
A Down Market, But Not By Much
Online poker was down in April, but the vertical still grossed more than $2.5 million for the sixth consecutive month. Revenue was down 6.2% month-over-month ($2.9 million) and down 7% year-over-year (also $2.9 million).
The market hasn’t been above the $3 million mark since March 2022 — instead, it has ranged from a low of just under $2.5 million in October 2022 to a high of $2.9 million in April 2022.
Overall, the online poker market in Pennsylvania peaked at $5.3 million in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. But the peak was short-lived — the next month, May 2020, was the only other month with more than $4.5 million in revenue, coming in at $4.6 million.
Having revenue of $3 million or more is rare. Pennsylvania’s online poker rooms have only managed to be north of that number eight times since the market launched in January 2020.
