Operator News
US – New Jersey closes in on Las Vegas as sports betting nears $3bn
By Phil - 14 June 2019
New Jersey’s retail and online sportsbooks have generated nearly $3bn in bets and nearly $200m in revenue in the 12 months since legal sports betting officially launched in June 2018.
And by collecting $318.9m in May bets, New Jersey appears poised to surpass Nevada in monthly handle for the first time, according to analysts for PlayNJ.com.
“We knew that sports betting in New Jersey would be successful, but it is fair to say that so far it has exceeded our expectations,” said Dustin Gouker, lead sports betting analyst for PlayNJ.com. “$3bn in bets in 12 months is an impressive milestone by any measure, and in just a year, New Jersey is set up to become the nation’s largest legal sports betting market.”
New Jersey’s handle in May was up 1.7 per cent from $313.7m in April, according to official reporting released Wednesday. New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks have now accepted $2.9bn in bets in the 12 months since launch.
New Jersey’s May could top Nevada’s, which will not release its May data until later this month. Nevada generated a $315.5m handle in May 2018.
“If this is indeed the month that New Jersey overtakes Nevada for the first time, it will be a momentous occasion for the Garden State,” Mr. Gouker said. “New Jersey sports bettors appear to have a stronger preference for basketball and baseball than Nevada, so it makes sense that May would be a likely month for it to happen. But clearly the state is on its way to becoming the largest legal sports jurisdiction in the country.”
The May handle generated $15.5m in revenue, down from $21.2m in April. New Jersey sportsbooks have now generated a win of $94.1m and $16.5m in tax revenue for the state since launch. Online sports betting accounted for $263.6m, or 82.6 per cent, of May’s handle.
FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet generated $7.9m in online gross revenue, down from $8.8m in May, to lead the online market. FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands continues to lead the retail market, too, posting $796,469 in May gross revenue, down from $3.3m in April.
“The sportsbooks branded by the daily fantasy sports giants continue to dominate the sportsbooks tied to Atlantic City-based casinos,” Mr. Gouker said. “Part of that is the brand recognition of FanDuel and DraftKings. But the proximity of FanDuel Sportsbook to New York City is also a significant factor to its dominance, particularly on the retail side.”
The picture is just as rosy for the online gaming sector. New Jersey online gambling operators saw a slight dip in revenues in May as the sport season moved into one of the slowest periods of the year. However, despite dropping sports revenue, May marked the second largest online casino revenue month since market inception, generating $36.54m.
Gross revenue growth on casino games was led by operators under the umbrellas of Golden Nugget Online Casino and Resorts Online Casino. Golden Nugget’s $14.07m reporting includes gross casino game revenues from Golden Nugget Online Casino and SugarHouse Online Casino, to go along with both Betfair Online Casino and FanDuel’s online casino players. Resorts Online Casino’s $7.28m gross casino games revenue comes from play at DraftKings, Mohegan Sun Online Casino, Resorts Online Casino, and PokerStars, which was a jump up from the previous month as they continue their growth into 2019.
“It’s encouraging to see sustained online casino growth in Q2 as we lead into the slow betting & online casino months of the year. This just proves the power of sports betting as a key factor in building up online casino play. The big story ahead will be with Pennsylvania, who launched online sports betting last week and should have online casino in market by the end of July. It will be a big year for the online gambling industry in America,” said BonusSeeker.com Managing Editor, Rich Migliorisi.
