In a handful of US states, online casino gaming is legal and operational. The top performer is easily New Jersey, having offered iGaming since 2013 and with several online casinos offering services. Just a few days ago, the governor of New Jersey decided to shut down gaming venues due to the coronavirus outbreak. The goal is to stop the spread of the virus. Online gaming sites have seen an influx in traffic due to the need for entertainment from home.
Individuals across the US are being asked to social distance from others. For many, this means to stay at home, if at all possible. While at home, people are bored and looking for things to do. In New Jersey, iGaming is an entertainment choice that is quickly becoming more popular among residents. For operators like Tropicana, the casino closures is actually an opportunity to build up their iGaming offering.
Growing an iGaming Base
The Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City is one of the closed casinos in the state. The loss of revenues will be felt from the closure, but the brand is now looking to build on their online gaming brand. As cases of the coronavirus grow in NJ, online gaming sites are seeing a huge increase in player numbers.
The Tropicana has continued to be a good performer when it comes to online casino gaming but staying at the middle of the pack. Last month, the operator earned a double digit increase for the third straight month. In January, the provider was at over $4.3 million. The numbers regarding earnings are actually a combo of the Tropicana as well as the Virgin online casino.
The Tropicana continues to stay ahead of the Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort by way of revenue earnings, but are nowhere close to the Golden Nugget and Resorts Digital. Year to date, the Tropicana has brought in just over $8 million. In comparison, Hard Rock has earned just over $5 million so far in 2020 and Ocean Casino is close to breaking the million dollar mark.
For Resorts and Golden Nugget, the earnings are much higher. Resorts has earned just over $24 million while the Golden Nugget sits at over $40 million. For Tropicana, they want to use this time to continue to gain ground as they have seen an increase in earnings since December of last year, month after month.
Doing What They Can
Of course, existing online gamers in New Jersey already have their favorite iGaming sites. So, Tropicana will have to provide incentives or figure out a way to pull regular players in from other sites. But they also can try to get their land-based players to log online.
For regular land-based visitors, online gaming is not necessarily something they do. However, being stuck at home now creates a need for entertainment. The Tropicana can spend some time trying to get these players to log online now that they do not have access to their traditional format of gaming.
This week, the Tropicana has launched a special option with the $20,000 Bonus Money Sharepot. Players can compete until late March 26th to try and earn a piece of the prize pool. Players can participate in Ball Bingo, slots or other games to earn entries. Players who wager $100 or more will earn one ticket each day towards the prize money. Players have the ability to earn up to five entries per day.
It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks if the Tropicana is able to gain any headway and if they begin to climb up the ladder by way of revenue earnings in New Jersey.