ATLANTIC CITY -- After winnings rose a brisk 32 percent for New Jersey online casino operators in 2016, that growth could be halved in 2017 thanks to a leveling off of internet poker play, according to a report by the industry research firm Eilers & Krejcik.

"There's not really enough players in New Jersey alone to support an online poker market," said an author of the report, Chris Grove, a senior consultant at Eilers & Krejcik, which specializes in gambling technology and interactive gambling.

The state Division of Gaming Enforcement reported last month that the online revenues, or "win," for the state casino industry was $196.7 million in 2016, up 32.1 percent from 2015. 

But despite innovations like "live" online dealers, that growth will slow to something more like 17 percent for 2017, said Grove, because one of online gambling's biggest money winners is poker, and most of the 7 million adults in New Jersey who are likely to play poker online are already playing.

In its analysis of New Jersey's slowing online poker market, Eilers & Krejcik cites New Jersey law only permitting play at Garden State virtual casinos by people physically within state boundaries, limiting the pool of players.

So, Grove said, one way to expand the pool would be for New Jersey to enter into an agreement with the two other states that also allow online poker, Delaware and Nevada, as those states have already done with each other.

But even those two states' online casinos are struggling to fill their virtual tables with enough real players, Grove said, and adding New Jersey to the mix still might not be sufficient for what he called "a healthy online poker eco-system."

What really needs to happen for online poker to hit the jack pot, Grove said, would be a decision by New York and Pennsylvania to allow online card games.

Those two states are now considering the move, Grove said, and if  happens, "then the story starts to look a little different."

Tax on all gambling winnings in New Jersey supports programs for the elderly and disabled, with online gambling taxed at nearly twice the rate of winnings at physical casinos -- 15 percent v. 8 percent.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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