The sports betting industry in New Jersey continues to smash records. The October 2021 month-end gambling revenue total topped $1.3 billion. That surpassed the previous month’s total, which was a national record of $1.01 billion. What makes this even more impressive is that the revenue is generated by just 9 casinos in Atlantic City and 3 horse racing tracks within the state.
Crunching The Numbers
Online sports wagering led the way in October with close to $1.2 billion of the $1.3 billion total coming from online wagers. The casinos and racetracks in New Jersey accounted for over $448 million during the month. This revenue was generated through in-person gambling, internet gambling, and sports betting. The figure is an increase of almost 33% from October 2020. Internet gambling produced revenues totaling $127 million, an increase of close to 36% from a year ago, and sports betting revenue was $84.1 million. That is an increase of close to 44% from last October. As for sports betting, over half of it came from the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, which happens to be just outside of New York City. The site won $44+ million, which was more than the close to $7 million tally from Freehold Raceway and the $4.5 million generated at Monmouth Park in Oceanport.
The total winnings for the month for in-person casino activity was $237 million. That is an increase of nearly 28% from the previous year. The Borgata topped the list of casinos for revenue collected in October with $108.5 million. That is an increase of almost 61% from October 2020. The Golden Nugget was second with $14.3 million, almost 35% more than a year ago, and Resorts Digital generated $14.6 million, an increase of over 27%. Elsewhere, Hard Rock had $44.3 million, an increase of more than 25%, Harrah’s was also up 25% with $24.3 million, Caesars totaled $8.9 million, up 14.6%, and Tropicana saw an increase of over 14% with $31.1 million. The rest of the totals saw Bally’s at $13 million, up 13%, and the Ocean Casino Resort was up over 10% with $32.1 million.
What They Had To Say
James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission says, “Atlantic City has effectively extended its momentum from the summer into the fall season.” He went on to add, “Five casinos-hotels surpassed their brick and mortar results from October 2019 (before the pandemic) and the other four were within striking distance. All of the operators have the tools that are needed to successfully compete in this market.”
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which monitors the gambling activity at Atlantic City, had this to say, “October 2021’s record sports wagering handle proves that September was not a flash in the pan, but rather the first sign of a new level of sports betting participation.” She credits the NFL season as giving the sports gambling landscape in New Jersey something to cheer about. It is interesting to note that the state has collected almost $8.5 billion in sports bets so far in 2021.
Where The Wagers Went
According to New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, college football and NFL games drew the heaviest number of wagers. Over $499 million was wagered on football during October 2021. That is up from the $400.8 million wagered on football the previous month. The new NBA season helped generate $156.9 million in sports wagering. Baseball generated a total of $127.1 million in wagers, $316.9 million went towards parlay bets, and bettors dropped another $205.1 million on other sporting activities. A record $10.6 million was paid by New Jersey sports betting operators in taxes to the state during October.
How New Jersey Measures Up To The Rest
The record $1,303,198,342 wagered in October 2021 put New Jersey at the top of all states with legal gambling. Pennsylvania was second during the month with a handle of $776,277,954. Indiana was third with $461,131,242, followed by Tennessee with $375,3,00,000. Iowa was fifth with $280.8 million, West Virginia sixth with $77.7 million, at the seventh place was Oregon with $37,6 million. Washington DC totaled $26.3 million, with New York at $25.5 million and Montana round out the top ten with $4.4 million. Of the top ten, Iowa had the greatest difference compared to October 2020 with an increase of 243%. As for New Jersey’s record, it was 62.3% greater than the October 2020 handle of $803 million.
New York Presents Challenges
Although New York residents have been a large part of the numbers collected in New Jersey for in-person gambling, things are expected to change soon. New York legislators have already completed the selection process choosing approved vendors to offer mobile sports betting. The plan is to have mobile sports betting in place and functioning in New York long before the NFL post-season and Super Bowl Championship game. Once mobile sports betting becomes a go-to tool for bettors in New York, this will likely impact the New Jersey numbers. When you consider how much of the monthly handle in New Jersey comes from mobile wagering, you can bet that lawmakers in New York see the potential of adding it to their gambling environment. There is no better way to put it than to state that there is a lot at stake here once New York’s mobile sports betting venues are live.
Final Thoughts
New Jersey continues to set sports betting records. The numbers generated are impressive considering the small number of venues responsible for the betting handle within the state. It should tell you that the population base in New Jersey is most certainly sports crazy fans. However, with New York state next door looking at adding mobile sports betting, the numbers in New Jersey are bound to take a hit. Although the gambling handle will still be impressive in New Jersey, it may not reach record numbers once bettors in New York gain access to mobile tools that will cause them to stay home and focus on betting within their home state.
