Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport New Jersey and the Borgata casino In Atlantic City both reported a strong first week of sports betting in the state.
State regulators have not released any official numbers, but officials for both facilities told the Associated Press they are very pleased with their initial numbers.
The two sportsbooks are the first in the state to offer live sports betting since New Jersey won its battle to strike down a federal ban on sports betting before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sports betting went live in the state June 14.
“We’re really pleased with the early results, especially considering it’s a slow time on the sports betting calendar,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, which runs the sports book at Monmouth Park.
According to local reports, the track saw large crowds for its first full weekend with sports betting, including attendance of more than 23,000 for Father’s Day, more than 5,000 more than last year. The track also featured a full slate of racing for the weekend.
The track reported that racing numbers were up across the board on Sunday, including $1,211,030 bet on the in-house simulcast, up 8 percent from a year earlier, $973,402 bet on the live racing program, a 17-percent increase, and $4,886,393 bet on the Monmouth Park signal, up 18 percent.
Dennis Drazin, president and CEO of Darby Development, which operates the track told the Asbury Park Press the “numbers have been very strong.’’
“I think this shows you sports betting is not going to cannibalize our product. In fact, it makes it even stronger when we have more people there doing both,’’ Drazin said.
The Borgata—which has opened its sportsbook alongside its already operating race book—also said business is up.
“The revenue was definitely beyond what it would have been,” casino spokeswoman Liza Costandino told the AP.
Costandino also said sports wagering is attracting new demographics to the facility, including younger players and more female players.
“A full bachelorette party came in and they all made sports bets,” Costandino said.
Officials for both facilities said betting has been mostly on individual baseball games and World Cup soccer matches. Customers also are making long-term bets on who will win the World Series or Super Bowl, the AP reported.
Casino and tracks offering sports books will report their revenue to the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. The regulator will begin making regular reports on the revenue in July.
By that time, there could be a third sports book operating in the state as the Ocean Resort—scheduled to open June 28 on the Atlantic City Boardwalk—has said it will include its own sports book on its opening day. Bruce Deifik, principal owner of the casino, recently told state regulators that the casino began building its sports book facility even before the Supreme Court made its ruling.
New Jersey and Delaware have both legalized sports betting after the high court ruling, which culminated a nearly seven-year effort by New Jersey to get the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act overturned. New Jersey spent an estimated $9 million fighting the ban.
Delaware, however, was able to go live with sports betting before New Jersey. Under PASPA, Delaware had a partial exemption to the ban and had regulations for sports betting in place. New Jersey waited nearly a month to begin sports betting as it adopted new sports betting regulations.
