The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has released its first set of financial figures in 2019, with the Garden State’s igaming scene picking up where it left off in the previous year.
It’s $33.5m gaming win represented a 53 per cent year-on-year increase from $21.9m, helping to boost total gaming revenue to $220.6m, 19.7 per cent up from $184.3m the previous year, from the casino industry in January, which increased further still when encapsulating sports wagering revenue from the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park racetracks to $229.6m, up 24.6 per cent from $184.3m.
The Golden Nugget’s igaming revenues saw a 66.9 per cent surge to £12.1m (2018: $7.2m) to secure market-leading status, ahead of Resorts Digital which saw a 65.8 per cent yoy increase to $6.4m (2018: $3.8m).
Across the board increases in online gaming is in contrast to land-based revenues, which saw Resorts once again become the only long-standing property to post a profit.
Its 8.8 per cent boost from $11.6m to $12.6m helped the overall land-based figure reach $177.2m, representing a 9.2 per cent increase from the 2018 total of $162.3m.
In the midst of the increased competition in the shape of Hard Rock and Ocean Resort, who posted revenues of $15.5m and $12.3m respectively, it’s Caesars that has the unfortunate honour of seeing the largest percentage decrease, dropping 21.3 per cent yoy from $21.7m to $17.1m.
In a traditionally quiet period for the state, New Jersey sportsbook raked in almost $400m in bets during the month, as the region took advantage of the first NFL playoff wagering opportunity since the fall of PASPA in May of last year.
Securing $9.7m in revenues from the sportsbooks of Atlantic City, which rose to $18.7m when encapsulating the aforementioned racetracks, it’s the FanDuel sportsbook at Meadowlands which remained the dominant entity with revenues of $7m.
The DraftKings Sportsbook which operates under the Resorts license swelled its coffers to $6.9m, with Dustin Gouker, lead sports betting analyst for PlayNJ.com, commenting: “Super Bowl betting didn’t quite reach expectations, but there were definitely some positives.
“The NFL Playoffs generated significant action in January, and anecdotal evidence suggests visitation to Atlantic City for the weekend of the Super Bowl was way up. All in all, it was a successful first season of the NFL for New Jersey’s sportsbooks.”
