New Jersey’s July Gambling Revenues Pass $500M

Article ByDavid Weir

August 17, 2023

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Posted in: US Gambling News, New Jersey Gambling News, US Casino News

New Jersey’s commercial gaming sector continues to thrive. The state’s sportsbooks and casinos passed $500 million in revenues for the month of July, according to the latest figures release from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).

That’s up 5.3% on July last year, and 10.7% up on June’s numbers.

New Jersey’s brick and mortar casinos, including the nine casino resorts in Atlantic City, are still the state’s biggest draw. They pulled in $290 million in revenues for the month. However, that is down 3% year-on-year.

On the other hand, online sports betting and casino operations are growing in revenue every year. Online operators pulled in $155 million, up 13.5% on July 2022.

The total New Jersey state gambling market has now surpassed $16 billion in revenues for the second quarter of 2023.

Sports Betting: A Dominant Force

The sports betting landscape in New Jersey has been particularly robust. According to regulator figures, the state’s sportsbooks witnessed a revenue jump of around 35% year-over-year, at $31.6 million.

The total sports betting handle for July stood at $587 million, marking a 10.4% rise from the $531.9 million wagered in July 2022.

The breakdown of this betting activity reflects the national U.S. picture of online sports betting dominating in states that have both on-premises and mobile betting available.

$561.6 million came from online bets, while retail bets accounted for $25.4 million.

The hold rate for July was 1.4%, pushing the revenue to the $61 million mark.

When it comes to individual operators, FanDuel led the pack with $35.7 million in revenue, followed by DraftKings with $19.1 million, and BetMGM rounding off the top three with $6.1 million.

Online Casinos Grow as Atlantic City Slows

The online casino segment in New Jersey has also been thriving.

The state’s online casino operations generated $155.2 million in revenue, marking a 13.5% year-over-year increase.

Borgata continued to lead the market, generating $42.9 million in revenue for July. Resorts Digital followed closely with $40.6 million, marking a 33% year-over-year increase, while Golden Nugget secured $39.8 million, up 15.2% year-over-year.

Brick and mortar casinos, meanwhile, still made nearly double their online counterparts in revenue. However, the gap is closing, as Atlantic City venues continue to show small declines year-on-year, while online casinos boom.

In June, New Jersey casinos saw a 13.2% drop in table game revenue year-on-year, and a 0.7% rise in slots revenue to $217.8 million. Combined, that was a 3% fall overall compared to 2022.

Future Positions

Atlantic City is suffering somewhat of an identity crisis in the past few years. The number of casinos has been slowly dwindling, with some reopening as arcade and waterpark venues with no gambling involved.

The now vacant lot of the former Trump Plaza Atlantic City casino is finally up for sale, two years after being demolished. Whether or not it will be rebuilt as a casino remains to be seen.

Potentially, the appeal of an online sports betting and casino license could be enough to entice an operator into the slowing brick and mortar market.

Several spaces in the New Jersey online gambling market have opened up in recent weeks, as sports betting operators in the state and nationally struggle against the dominant FanDuel and DraftKings.

PlayUP Sportsbook shut down completely in July, after the DGE revoked its license on insolvency grounds. Then, earlier this month, national operator WynnBET announced its sportsbook would be leaving eight markets, including New Jersey. That came just days after it rolled out a shiny new multi-state app.