New Jersey passed the one-year mark for sports betting in the state last month and now has seen more than $3.2 billion bet on sports through the end of June.
Sports betting went live in New Jersey on June 14, 2018. Figures released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s casinos and racetracks handled $273 million worth of bets in June 2019.
In May, New Jersey finished ahead of Nevada in the amount of monthly sports bets placed, with $318.9 million wagered, about $1.5 million more than Nevada, whose June statistics will be released later this month.
New Jersey’s casinos and two horse tracks that offer sports betting collectively won nearly $284 million in June, up 21.5 percent from a year ago.
“I am frankly shocked at how well we have done,” Jeff Gural, operator of the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, told the Associated Press.
The track has earned nearly $58 million in sports betting revenue after winning bets have been paid out—more than all Atlantic City sportsbooks combined.
“I expect that in this calendar year we will do $500 million in betting volume, which makes us the biggest in the world,” Gural said. “We totally dominate New Jersey, and as long as New York decides to force their residents to either bet illegally or drive to New Jersey, now that we have self-bet terminals available for the football season and American Dream opening next door, I would expect to see our revenues continue to grow.”
For the year, New Jersey casinos and tracks have earned $109 million on sports betting and paid $13.3 million in state taxes. Since sports betting started a year ago, New Jersey has collected $23.8 million, according to a press release from James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.
The month also brought good news to the Atlantic City casinos, which won a combined $278 million for the month, an increase of over 20 percent from last June. It’s the thirteenth straight month Atlantic City casino have seen a double-digit growth in revenue.
However, June was also the last month that the current nine casino market will be compared to the former seven casino market. Both the Hard Rock Atlantic City and the Ocean Casino Resort opened on June 27, 2018. Those openings stretched the market and only two of the original seven casinos saw revenue increases for June 2019.
The Borgata had its best June ever for table games, winning $22.3 million. The Borgata took in nearly $71 million in total revenue June, an increase of 7.7 percent from last year, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.
The Hard Rock was second at $32.5 million, Golden Nugget was third at $29.54 million, up 2.2 percent and Tropicana brought in $29.51 million, a decline of nearly 14 percent from a year ago.
Harrah’s won $24.5 million, down 17.3 percent, Caesars won $23.2 million, down 5.8 percent and the Ocean Casino Resort won $21.4 million. Bally’s won $16.1 million, down nearly 8 percent and Resorts won $15.5 million, down 5.1 percent.
Online gambling remained strong bringing in more than $38 million, an increase of nearly 68 percent from a year earlier. The Golden Nugget and its online partners led the market with nearly $13.6 million in online revenue.
