SPORTS BETTING
US – New Jersey sportsbooks set new records in November
By Phil - 20 December 2021
New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks hastened an already record-setting pace in November, becoming the first state to produce more than $100m in revenue in a single month off of nearly $1.3bn in betting.
The third consecutive month of jaw-dropping results by both sports betting and online gaming pushed the state past even more milestones, including a lifetime sports betting handle of more than $20bn, according to PlayNJ, which tracks gaming developments in the state.
“The key to New Jersey’s consistency and its advantage over most every other market is its ability to draw interest on such a wide variety of sports,” said David Danzis, an analyst for PlayNJ.com. “We’ve seen over the last three years that when football and basketball converge, as they did in November, it produces a groundswell of bettor interest for sportsbooks.”
In total, New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks handled $1.26bn in wagers in November, the third consecutive month with wagering over $1bn, according to official reporting released Thursday. Betting volume was up 35.2 per cent from the $931.6m generated in November 2020, but fell just short of October’s $1.3bn record.
Sportsbooks won a remarkable $114.8m of November’s bets, though. That shattered the previous record — for the state and for the US — of $84.2m that was set in October. Year-over-year, revenue was up 127.1 per cent from $50.m in November 2020. In all, that revenue generated $17.3m in state and local taxes.
New Jersey sportsbooks have now taken in $20.9bn in wagers, which has yielded $1.55bn in revenue, since the market first opened in June 2018. New Jersey is the only state to cross $20bn in wagers and $1.5bn in revenue over that time.
“New Jersey helped open the floodgates to legal sports betting in the US when it launched in 2018, and no state has done it better,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayNJ.com. “The Garden State remains the most lucrative market in the country, more than delivering on its early promise.”
With one less weekend of games, football betting slowed to $401.3m in November from $499m in October. Meanwhile, basketball spurred $399.7m in betting, up from $159.6m in October. For the year, basketball has attracted $2.3bn in bets, the most of any sport. Football is second with $1.6bn in wagers this year.
“Football gets a lot of attention, but basketball is quietly a monster for New Jersey sportsbooks,” Danzis said.
Online sportsbooks accounted for $1.1bn in wagers, or 90.9 per cent of the state’s handle in November. FanDuel/PointsBet/SuperBook continued their dominance of the online market with $59m in gross revenue, up from $39.6m in October. Meanwhile, retail sportsbooks generated $114m in November handle. Meadowlands/FanDuel led the retail market with $5.4m in revenue.
New Jersey’s online casinos kept up a blistering pace with $118m in gaming and poker revenue, but fell short of the record $127m generated in October. November’s revenue was up 28.5 per cent from $91.8m in November 2020.
The pace slowed to $3.9m in revenue per day over the 30 days of November from $4.1m per day in October. But revenue was up from $3.1m per day in November 2020. Online casinos and poker rooms have now produced $1.2bn in revenue for the year.
“Online casinos and online sportsbooks have created a rising tide that continues to benefit both,” Danzis said. “The question ahead is how much more can online casinos grow? I don’t think they have reached their collective ceiling yet, but the growth in 2022 will most likely taper off somewhat compared with what we’ve seen over the last two years.”
