Sports betting and iGaming deliver outstanding performance in New Jersey

Atlantic City has done it again. Thirteen years after launching online casinos officially in the state, New Jersey seems to know no stop to how high it can go leveraging the iGaming vertical with the results in November 2023 the highest on record yet since the activity was introduced to the state.

Internet gaming, which includes both slots and table games played digitally, amounted to $171.5m during the month, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement confirmed in a press statement. This amount is well ahead of the results posted during the same month in 2022 and is not the only big event that happened in the state this month.

Sports gambling also soared, posting another record of its own with $1.62bn worth of total wagers placed during the 30-day period. Right now, though, it’s hard to gauge whether the rise of online gambling has cost anything to the land-based sector.

In a sense, table games have slumped in November, and slots have posted a 3% gain, but this is not in itself a factor. Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, cited by the Associated Press, said that internet and sports betting drive 45% of the revenue in Atlantic City, at least in November 2023.

Although some retail performance had indeed trailed last month, this is not reason for concern Bokunewicz says:

"Rather than diminishing the brick-and-mortar gaming revenues, internet gaming and sports betting seem to be well-received consumer products that are filling a niche for certain gamblers."

She seems to have a point as a decade of iGaming operations has not really upset the way land-based casinos operate. However, a fair caveat should be issued to the industry which should take notice of these developments.

As iGaming has become more popular since the legalization of online sports gambling in NewJersey in 2018, there may indeed be some changes in the paradigm, where in-person gambling slows down in the long run. Whether this is the case, only time will tell.

Casinos for their part have been more pessimistic about the state of the industry. For example, they only focus on money won from retail gambling, as the online profits are split between them and other stakeholders and facilitators, such as suppliers. In terms of in-person gambling, the state is also seeking a decent gain from last year’s results, with the $482.4m posted last month constituting a 9.4% increase.

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