New Jersey gambling revenue beats all expectations in January 2024

New Jersey has much to be happy about, as the state has much to be boastful about after the Garden State brought in not one, not two, but four separate gambling revenue records on Friday, February 16, with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) revealing the state’s biggest pull from the industry since each of the respective verticals mentioned in the following lines were conceived.

Essentially, New Jersey established new records across sports wagering, internet gambling revenue, the total money bet on casino-sports betting-internet revenue, and the total amount bet on sports, i.e. the handle.

The results were a tremendous sight for Atlantic City properties where the casinos and their digital partners are based, but they were no less cheered than industry onlookers who found themselves surprised by New Jersey’s defiance of all logic and continuously improving results. The only laggard in the bunch seemed to be casino win, which contracted a little on an annual basis.

Regardless, internet gaming win hit $183.3m, marking a 19.9% gain on January 2023’s results, and sports wagering gross revenue stood at $170.8m last month, or up 136.1%. Not least, total gaming revenue, which includes casinos, racetracks, and their partners, was posted at $559.1m, or a jump of 28% on last year’s results.

The total gaming revenue was prodded on by internet gambling and sports betting as noted above. Had it not been for a brief weather spell, casinos may have also been able to improve their results in the month, but as things stood, fewer visitors frequented Atlantic City’s floors.

In-person visits to casinos have indeed been problematic, but not all properties have been reporting endemic underperformance. For example, Hard Rock, Ocean, and the Borgata ended up pulling in more revenue over January from in-person visitations than they did in January 2019, essentially beating pre-pandemic results and expectations in a rare twist of events.

Unsurprisingly, sports gambling revenue led the way from internet channels, with $1.67bn wagered via internet and mobile apps whereas only $47m was placed down via physical locations across Atlantic City. The total sports betting handle for the state stood at $1.71bn, based on DGE’s breakdown.

Resorts Digital pulled in $40m from sports wagering revenue and $49m from internet gaming win, outperforming the Borgata in both segments. However, the Borgata also has a presence in land-based gambling, which contributed another $57.6m to its results, helping it top the month with $107m in total gaming revenue.

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