The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) has reported a month-on-month increase in revenue across all gambling segments for August, as the state continued its recovery from the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) shutdown.
Overall gaming revenue for the month amounted to $326.3m, which was 7.5% lower than at the same point last year, but 23.4% higher than $264.5m in July this year, as players returned to land-based casinos and the restart of major sports events boosted the state’s sports betting sector.
Focusing on sports wagering, revenue in this segment totalled $39.5m for the month, up 56.7% from $25.2m last year and 33.9% higher than $29.5m in July.
Online remained by far the most popular form of sports betting for players in the state, with consumers placing $601.9m in wagers online, compared to $66.0m at retail locations. In total, players wagered $668.0m on sports during August, more than double the $315.1m bet last year.
In terms of individual operator performance, Meadowlands and sub-licensees FanDuel and PointsBet continued to lead the market with $21.2m in revenue, up 78.2% year-on-year
Resorts Digital and its partner DraftKings followed in second with its revenue climbing by 49.3% to $10.0m, while sports wagering revenue at the Borgata rocketed 383.4% year-on-year to $4.5m.
Looking at online gambling and revenue in this market jumped by 113.9% year-on-year to $87.8m, though this remained level with the amount generated by operators in July.
Peer-to-peer igaming accounted for $3.0m of overall revenue, up 77.7% on last year, while other online gambling was responsible for $84.7m in revenue, also up 115.1%.
Golden Nugget remained some way out in front in this market, posting $27.7m in revenue, up 84.5% on last year. Revenue at the Borgata also jumped 117.2% to $19.8m, while Resorts Digital saw its igaming revenue climb 140.2% to $17.9m.
However, despite growth across both of these segments, the NJDGE reported further declines within its land-based casino market, where revenue was down 30.5% year-on-year to $119.1m.
This did represent an improvement on the $147.4m posted in July this year as more players returned to the state’s casinos, but with restrictions still in place limiting capacity and some players choosing to stay away, the market continues to lag behind last year.
Land-based slot machine win as down 30.8% year-on-year to $144.1m, while table game revenue slipped 29.8% from $78.2m in August 2019 to $54.9m this year.
August’s figures mean overall gambling revenue in New Jersey for the year-to-date, through to the end of August, stood at $1.62bn, some 29.0% lower than at the same point in 2019.
Land-based casino revenue was 53.9% behind at $842.2m, but sports wagering revenue was 16.5% higher at $178.0m, while online gambling win more than double from $297.9m to $598.0m.