New Jersey Casinos Report A Record Month For Sport Betting

DraftKings and Fanduel continue to lead sports betting in New Jersey.

Joss Wood 15 February 2019

January brought New Jersey’s casinos over $385 million in sports wagers according to the latest revenue figures from the Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). Around 80 percent of all wagers were made online.

Legal sports betting added a total of $18.8 million to New Jersey’s casinos’ bottom line in January. That was actually less than in December when they picked up $21 million. We’re now just over 6 months into New Jersey legal sports betting and the numbers have been excellent.

The state can’t complain about its receipts either. The New Jersey treasury picked up $3.2 million in sports betting taxes, money it didn’t get before legalizing sports betting. The market is still growing, with no end yet in sight, so the state’s tax revenues will get even bigger.

From the operator’s perspective there’s still a lot of competition for market share. DraftKings and FanDuel are the clear market leaders. The various casino partnerships make it impossible to break out their exact revenue figures, but they are very high.

The fact that the two DFS brands have done so well in New Jersey suggests that the US market likes the brands it already knows. The European brands are not doing badly, but perhaps they have overestimated the value of their names in this market.

New Jersey Sports Betting Revenues by Operator

On a gross gaming revenue basis, the numbers for each casino are:

Casino	Online	Live	January Total GGR
Bally's Wild Wild West (Caesars, 888)	$260,290	$236,370	$496,660
Borgata (playMGM)	$41,897	$635,564	$677,461
Golden Nugget	NA	$27,287	$27,287
Hard Rock (Digital and Retail)	NA	$25,235	$25,235
Harrah's	NA	$20,615	$20,615
Meadowlands (FanDuel, PointsBet)	$5,850,117	$1,168,063	$7,018,180
Monmouth Park (William Hill, SugarHouse)	$1,171,980	$830,792	$2,002,772
Ocean Resort (William Hill)	$1,285,576	($14,287)	$1,271,289
Resorts (DraftKings, BetStars)	$6,893,983	$242,636	$7,136,619
Tropicana	$196	$98,626	$98,822
Totals	$15,504,039	$3,270,901	$18,774,940

Casino revenues grew by a quarter

Even better news was to be found in the revenue figures across the casino's other businesses.

Casino Win from the Industry was $177.3 million compared to $162.4 million in January 2018, reflecting a 9.2% increase.
Internet Gaming Win was $33.6 million in January compared to $22.0 million in the prior period, reflecting an increase of 53.0%.
The Industry’s Total Gaming Revenue for the month was $229.6 million compared to $184.3 million for January 2018, reflecting a 24.6% increase.

2019 has got off to a great start for New Jersey's casinos. What a difference a year can make.

Only a year ago the rating agencies Moody's and Fitch were forecasting that several Atlantic City casinos would close. Since then two new casinos have opened, sports betting is making a major difference to casino finances, and the double digit growth looks set to continue.