The September revenue numbers for Atlantic City came in and the results were muddled by superior earnings in online gaming revenue and sports betting. For the land-based gaming results, Borgata, as usual, came out head with $60 million in gross gaming revenues. But it was down 13.5 percent from September 2017. Most of the other casinos experienced declines for the month, led by a steep drop at Caesars, down almost 25 percent for the month. Only the Tropicana posted a less than 1 percent increase.
The two new casinos were the difference makers. Both opened in late June. Hard Rock posted revenues of $26 million, good enough for third place in the market. Ocean Resorts, however, was looking up at all other casinos with a $15 million gross gaming win.
The big news for the month was the almost doubling of sports betting revenue from August. Clearly the catalyst was the opening of the NFL season and the addition of more physical and online gaming choices. But the surprise was the complete dominance of the two former daily fantasy sports companies, FanDuel and DraftKings. Between the two of them, they accounted for $11.3 million of the $12.6 million digital revenue for New Jersey sports books.
And digital clearly is the choice of New Jersey bettors, already surpassing the $11.4 million bet at the bricks-and-mortar sports books.
Discounting “futures” bets—wagers on events that have yet to be completed—New Jersey sports books held 7.9 percent.
PlaySugarhouse.com—an online casino and sports betting site from Philadelphia’s Sugar House casino that operates in New Jersey through a partnership with Golden Nugget Atlantic City—announced that the start of the NFL season more than doubled action at its online sportsbook in September.
“We’re very happy with the numbers we are seeing,” said Mattias Stetz chief operating officer of Rush Street Interactive, which operates SugarHouse Online Sportsbook & Casino in a press release. “We see that the player base is continuing to grow as the word spreads about the quality and volume of the different live in-game bets at PlaySugarHouse.com. We are at the start of the football season and are excited to see our numbers keep climbing.”
The casino said about 80 percent of its bets are being made on mobile devices and that the sports book play has also led to an increase in play at its online casino site.
SEPTEMBER NEW JERSEY SPORTS BETTING REVENUE
Property (Digital Partner) Sept. Digital Sept. Casino Sept. Total Aug. Total
Resorts (DraftKings, BetStars) $8.5 $.28 $8.8 $3.0
Meadowlands (FanDuel) $2.9 $4.4 $7.3 $3.1
Monmouth Park (William Hill) $.7 $2.1 $2.8 $.9
Borgata (playMGM) $.1 $2.2 $2.5 $.9
Ocean Resort (William Hill) $.3 $1.0 $1.4 $.5
Golden Nugget (SugarHouse) $.6 $.5 $1.1 $.2
Bally’s (Caesars online, 888) $.1 $.4 $.5 $.3
Harrah’s N/A $.3 $.3 $.3
Totals: $12.6 $11.4 $24.0 $9.0
All revenue in $millions
