This is a developing story and will be updated.
New Jersey sports betting continued to grow despite less football to bet on in January.
The state’s sportsbook operators took more than $385 million in wagers last month, the biggest month in the short history of NJ sports betting. That figure reflects both online and retail sportsbook wagering, with the former accounting for almost 80 percent of total activity.
That’s up from $319 million in handle the state’s sports betting operators posted in December. Revenue was down a slight tick — $18.8 million in January vs. $21 million in December.
Breaking down New Jersey sports betting
Here’s a closer look at how each casino and its digital licensees fared in January 2019:
| Property (Online) | Digital | Retail | January Total | December Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bally’s Wild Wild West (Caesars, 888) | $260,290 | $236,370 | $496,660 | $128,754 |
| Borgata (playMGM) | $41,897 | $635,564 | $677,461 | $167,241 |
| Golden Nugget | N/A | $27,287 | $27,287 | $82,532 |
| Hard Rock (*combined retail/digital) | N/A* | $25,235* | $25,235 | N/A |
| Harrah’s | N/A | $20,615 | $20,615 | $215,971 |
| Meadowlands (FanDuel, PointsBet) | $5,850,117 | $1,168,063 | $7,018,180 | $9,110,014 |
| Monmouth Park (William Hill, SugarHouse) | $1,171,980 | $830,792 | $2,002,772 | $2,327,684 |
| Ocean Resort (William Hill) | $1,285,576 | ($14,287) | $1,271,289 | $1,677,883 |
| Resorts (DraftKings, BetStars) | $6,893,983 | $242,636 | $7,136,619 | $6,886,735 |
| Tropicana | $196 | $98,626 | $98,822 | $217,408 |
| Totals: | $15,504,039 | $3,270,901 | $18,774,940 | $20,814,222 |
NJ sports betting bucking a trend and growing
Using Nevada sports betting as a benchmark, the final three months of the year — when there is a lot of football to wager on — are usually the biggest in terms of total wagers.
While football is still being played in January, it’s down to just bowl games and the championship series in college, and playoffs in the NFL. That usually leads to less handle in Nevada.
That wasn’t the case in New Jersey, as it easily surpassed December’s and November’s numbers for handle. That’s partially due to the fact that the industry is still new and growing, and continues to add operators.
Looking at history as a guide
Just four years ago, Nevada sports betting handle in January hit $387 million; last year, Nevada had about $419 million in January wagers. So the days of Nevada having the catbird seat in terms of most sports betting could be numbered.
We also got a bit of a preview of the February numbers, as NJ sportsbooks took about $35 million in wagers on the Super Bowl. They ended up paying out nearly $5 million, putting them in the red for the game.
It will be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out. Nevada betting handle is usually dominated by wagering on the Super Bowl — usually around 30 to 40 percent of all wagering February — but it might be a relatively small chunk of overall activity in NJ.
It’s still FanDuel, DraftKings, and everyone else
The leaders in the market continue to be the same every month: DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook.
Revenue in NJ is broken down by license holder. Both the Meadowlands (which includes FanDuel’s retail sportsbook and app) and Resorts Atlantic City (DraftKings) were around $7 million in revenue for online and retail combined.
Resorts includes FOX Bet in its total and Meadowlands includes new operator PointsBet, but both are accounting for a small percentage of revenue and wagers under their respective licenses. Sources indicate to LSR that FanDuel and DraftKings comprise 90 to 95 percent of digital revenue for their licensors.
“It was another great month for bettors with College Bowl season and the NFL Playoffs, and the first month where customers had access to live in-app streaming of the Australian Open,” a FanDuel statement reads in part.
Break out the calculator
Doing some quick math, that means that the rest of the revenue — less than $5 million — split among a lot of different sportsbooks.
- Monmouth Park ($2 million) and Ocean Resort ($1.3 million) — both powered by William Hill — were the only other books with seven figures in revenue.
- MGM Resorts-owned FOX Bet continues to underperform at under $700,000 in revenue, despite the fact that it dominates land-based casino revenue. Borgata has a less-than-optimal retail sportsbook (a converted racebook) and its online app is well behind many others in terms of quality.
- The new retail book from Hard Rock AC ($25K revenue) appeared on the report for the first time and already surpassed Harrah’s ($20K).
