New York and New Jersey See March Increases in Sports and Online Gambling Revenue

Article ByKyle Garlett

April 17, 2023

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

Led by the sports betting juggernaut that is the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, New York and New Jersey saw spikes in sports betting and online gaming revenue in March. The recently released figures show both states saw significant growth over the previous month, and over March in the previous year.

New York Gaming Having a Profitable 2023

New York began the year with a January sports betting handle of $1.788 billion and revenues of $149 million. This past March, it fell just short of the handle record, coming in at $1.785 billion. But because of an increased win rate by the sportsbooks, their gross revenue was more than $162 million. That is up nearly $50 million from March of 2022, and it’s $54 million more than the February generated revenue.

February has the biggest sports betting event on the calendar, with more than 100 million sports betting transactions recorded during Super Bowl weekend. But the NCAA Men’s Tournament extends across several long weekends in March, and its popularity among bettors is growing. The American Gaming Association says that an estimated 68 million Americans wagered on the NCAA Men’s Tournament this past March, up from 45 million just one year ago.

It will be interesting to see if the popularity of the Yankees and Mets can sustain New York’s sports betting growth through the summer months.

New Jersey Sports Betting Has Third Biggest Month

The Garden State was also over the $1 billion mark in sports wagers for the month of March, and the take is nearly completely dependent on online and mobile wagering. Online wagers generated $975.2 million in handle, with only $50.6 million coming via retail locations.

Just as with New York, New Jersey saw a spike in its hold rate, creating a huge increase in revenue. For March, New Jersey generated $93.04 million in revenue, a 70% increase over February and a 40% increase over March of 2022.

This was the third-biggest month for New Jersey operator revenue, and it was the 11th time since sports betting was legalized in 2018 that the state’s handle was more than $1 billion.

New Jersey Online Casino Revenue Sets Record

When you lump together all of the revenue for sports betting and casino wagering, both online and retail, New Jersey gaming operators took in more than $487 million in revenue for March. That is 15% higher than what was reported in March of 2022.

That operator revenue generated more than $51 million in tax revenue for the state, with almost half of that – $24.9 million – coming from online casinos. In total, the iGaming platforms in New Jersey brought in a record $165.7 million in revenue in March, breaking the previous record by nearly $13 million.

The changes in the way people prefer to gamble is also reflected in Atlantic City, where Bally’s, Caesars, Golden Nugget, and the Tropicana all saw declines in their revenue. Nearly all of the growth the industry has experienced is online and mobile. In-person gaming saw just a 5.6% increase over this time last year.