New Jersey online gambling scene sets new records

New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has revealed gaming revenues for July 2020, showing yet another impressive performance from local gaming operators.  The state’s online gambling industry has generated impressive revenue numbers amounting to £66.86m / 87.5m.   

July revenues surpass May’s revenue record of £65.64m / $85.9m. The figure also shows a rather sizeable month-to-month increase of 36.2 percent.  The main difference between May and July’s performance is that Atlantic City’s land based casinos were allowed to reopen last July 2 after a three-month-long lockdown period in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Prior to the July reopening, New Jersey players only had online gambling as their gaming option.  The figure suggests that players prefer playing online from the comfort of their homes rather than dealing with the casinos’ stringent sanitary protocols and reduced gaming capacity. 

DGE’s figures show a positive trend in other online gambling services as well.  The Atlantic State’s online poker revenues amounted to £3.67/$4.8m, a 36 percent increase over June’s revenue numbers.   

Another positive number from the DGE’s figures comes from sports betting.  Sportsbooks have performed relatively well as they’ve accepted £240.71/$315.1m wagers, a 25.4 percent increase YTD.  Revenues have also gone up as New Jersey’s bookie’s revenues amount to £22.54/$29.5m, a 65 percent increase compared to 2019’s numbers, a stark contrast to June’s numbers.  This resurgence is due to the resumption of three of the four major American professional sports leagues last July, particularly the MLB, NHL, and NBA. Prior to this, sports bettors only had minimal options.  

Despite these positive numbers,  casinos didn’t perform as well compared to their online counterparts.  The state’s casinos only managed to show revenue figures of £112.64/$147.40m, a decrease of 46.8 percent compared to last year’s numbers.  As it stands, the brick and mortar casino industry’s revenue numbers amount to £491.46/$643.15m YTD, a 58.3 percent decrease compared to 2019’s YTD numbers.  Operators have attributed a large amount of lost revenue to restrictions imposed by Gov. Phil Murphy as he forced casinos to operate at only 25 percent capacity while also not allowing smoking, drinking, or dining inside casino premises.  

Casinos have set up different ways to get around such restrictions. For example, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, New Jersey’s highest grossing casino, postponed its reopening to adjust to the mandates. Prior to its soft reopening on July 23, the hotel has already put in place many anti-COVID measures while simultaneously working around dining limitations as its management decided to offer an outdoor dining experience for its players.  During its relatively short eight-day operations, it managed to rake in £6.42/$8.4m in revenue.  This figure places Borgata as the lowest-grossing casino in New Jersey while Hard Rock Atlantic City tops the list with a reported £18.8/$24.6m revenue numbers. Despite this, Borgata is the second highest-earning online gambling provider in the state with internet gaming revenues amounting to £11.69/$15.297m second only to Golden Nugget’s £24.06/$31.48m net revenues. Ocean Casino and Harrah’s were the only other properties to gross more than $20 million with $23.6 million and $21.2 million, respectively.

Src: https://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/index.html