With the launch of Mohegansun.com this week, Mohegan Sun makes its debut in the burgeoning market for real-money online gambling offered by New Jersey’s online casinos.
The online casino on this site is one of the casinos that have paved the way for gaming and entertainment.
Mohegan Sun is one of the East Coast’s largest casino resorts. The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut founded it in 1996, and it now employs 10,000 people, has 6,500 slot machines, 377 table games, and a racing book. Business activities generated approximately $50 million in revenue in the first quarter. So, why is the Mohegan Sun, a large and well-known land-based casino, relocating its operations, at least electronically, to Atlantic City?
Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority President Bobby Soper said on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Wednesday, “We are a growing company, and the online gaming platform is a progression of where gaming, or at least a segment of gaming, is going.” Soper made these comments in reference to the company’s growth. MoheganSun.com now offers casino games on its website, including slot machines and video poker, and the company is working to bring its games to mobile platforms such as the App Store and Android. The company is expected to generate approximately $800,000 in monthly revenue by the end of 2015.
The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, which operate the successful Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, currently give Connecticut 25% of their gross slot revenues in exchange for exclusive rights to all casino games. In 2017, the state of Connecticut received approximately $270 million in revenue from this agreement. Jessica Rinaldi photographed for The Boston Globe and provided by Getty Images
Soper believes that internet gaming has a sizable market opportunity in the United States. “Although the sector is only worth $100 million in the United States, it is a $40 billion global market that is growing at a 30% annual rate. We intend to arrive early in order to take advantage of all available opportunities.” The website is currently in a soft launch phase, and it will formally launch once it receives approval from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Mohegan is looking for expansion opportunities in Asia outside of the United States and online.
Soper claims that Mohegan intends to take a portion of Macau’s $40 billion casino market in order to fund the $1.6 billion construction of a massive entertainment and gaming complex in South Korea. This endeavor would be undertaken in collaboration with Incheon Airport Group.
Soper stated that Mohegan stands to gain significantly from its participation in the South Korean bidding process. “With over 700 million potential clients only a two-hour plane ride away from the city, Seoul is the closest gaming jurisdiction to Beijing and Shanghai.” “The closest gaming jurisdiction to Beijing and Shanghai is Seoul.”
Global gambling revenue surpassed $450 billion in 2018, with analysts projecting that figure will rise to $525 billion by 2019. However, Global Betting and Gaming Consultants predicted that global growth would slow to 1% in 2015 due to lower earnings in the Asian gambling powerhouse of Macau, but that growth would quickly rebound to 4.1 percent in 2016.