Bad news for the State of Delaware.
As one of the three states that have authorized online gambling in the United States, expectations for the revenue potential in Delaware (despite its relatively minuscule population) were strong in recent months. But that balloon has, at least for now, been deflated.
The state saw only $253,000 in revenue for November and December combined, which is drastically less than what state officials had projected.
Only about 4,000 players have signed up to gamble online in The First State. If more players don’t find their way to log on at the Internet gaming sites operated by Dover Downs, Harrington Raceway and Delaware Park, the first year of operation will bring in only about $1.7 million.
“It might be two, three years from now, we might say this [online gambling] is a nice little business in Delaware,” Frank Fantini of Fantini Research, a Delaware gaming publication, tells Poker Update. “But right now, it’s pretty slow.”
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