… a success, according to Seeking Alpha. On the other hand, Telsey Advisor Group projects New Jersey to flop, eventually only grossing $90 million, not the half-billion envisioned by some. Bloomberg Businessweek reports “mildly disappointing” numbers and that Internet wagering will have to double its pace to keep casinos from posting an eighth year of revenue declines in 2014. Still others advocate a wait-and-see attitude. Nonetheless, Gov. Chris Christie (R) needs a 20X increase in play or he’ll have egg on his face at year’s end. He predicts $1.2 billion, compared to Bloomberg Industries‘ $425 million projection — and even the latter may well be a stretch.
Brand names made a difference, with Borgata capturing 44% of the revenue, a significant coup for Boyd Gaming. Another 29% was scarfed up by Caesars Interactive. So one’s 
bricks-and-mortar reputation clearly carries weight with online punters. (“When matching our online and land-based databases, we found that 60 percent of online casino customers had not been to Borgata in over a year, and over 75 percent had made fewer than two trips to Borgata in the past year,” said Boyd CEO Keith Smith, in a press release.) Trump Entertainment Resorts won 15%, leaving table crumbs for everyone else.
The brick-and-mortar casinos were dominated by Borgata, of course, but Revel showed fits of life. It posted a 27% revenue gain, grossing $155 (a quarter of Borgata’s haul). And even if the online numbers weren’t disappointing, that may not be enough to forestall an Internet gold rush in 11 other states. Pennsylvania is expected to lead the charge. The challenges are serious, including how to exclude problem gamblers. But where there is money, the Lege is never far behind.
