Online poker is readily available in three states in the US: Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. Nevada was the first to launch followed by Delaware and then New Jersey. While many expected the state of Nevada to be the most successful, it was New Jersey that has been the most effective by offering online poker gaming. The state of New Jersey continues to grow steadily as Nevada and Delaware have gotten a little stagnant.
According to recent reports by Poker Scout, New Jersey has continued to see steady growth since first launching on November 21st. the state has seen very large spikes in member accounts and continue to see a nice growth in player accounts. At the same time, the state of Nevada and Delaware have seen a slowdown in member accounts. In January, Nevada saw a nice increase in player accounts but it is now back down in numbers.
Nevada is having trouble adding to their player numbers and after the WSOP.com launched, the member accounts seemed to slow down. The World Series of Poker will begin this May so it will be interesting to see if special promotions or satellites to events will see a large spike in player numbers.
Delaware has only seen just over 4,000 player accounts due to small population. Both Delaware and Nevada have discussed a partnership to see interstate game play but nothing has yet to come of these talks. If the two could work together, there would be larger player pools which would help both states generate more player traffic.
Online gambling is only a few months old so there is still time for Nevada and Delaware to catch up. Also, other states may come in the mix this year so it will be interesting to see if New Jersey will be able to keep the top spot.