New Jersey saw sports betting handle climb in May despite a slowdown in the sports calendar, with handle up 14% month-on-month to $814 million.
New Jersey sportsbooks turned that handle into $52.9 million in revenue, down around 3% month-on-month.
A low hold rate was to blame for the revenue decline. Hold was 6.5% in May, following a 7.3% mark in April.
More than 90% of bets were placed online, per the state report.
Sell in May and go away
The strong May numbers come as a relative surprise given a sparse sporting calendar.
So far, six jurisdictions with legal US sports betting reported figures from May. Half of those, including newly launched Michigan, reported a sequential decline.
Through five months of the year, NJ sports betting revenues totaled $297 million. That is up 208% year-on-year, although of course 2020 was affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Who leads New Jersey sportsbooks?
The Meadowlands license, driven largely by FanDuel Sportsbook, contributed 65% of all NJ sports betting revenues for the month. FanDuel continues to lead a market in which it started slightly late in 2018 but quickly came to dominate.
The license, shared by PointsBet, had a 53% market share in April.
Superbook USA will launch next month on the Meadowlands license as well.
Podium position among New Jersey sportsbooks
Elsewhere, the Resorts license including DraftKings came in second place in the market. The Resorts license had an 18% share, down from 23% last month.
A distant third was Borgata and BetMGM, with a 7% share worth $3.8 million.
Other NJ operator market share
- Monmouth Park (William Hill, SugarHouse, theScore): $2.3 million
- Ocean (William Hill, Tipico): $1.3 million
- Hard Rock (Hard Rock, bet365, Unibet): $552k
- Golden Nugget (Golden Nugget, BetAmerica): $-29k
- Tropicana (William Hill): $110k
- Caesars (Caesars, 888, WynnBET): $701k
- Bally’s: $279k
The state earned $6.8 million in sports betting taxes.
What was the most popular sport to bet on?
Baseball led the way in May with $326 million in handle. That was followed by basketball, which attracted $217 million in wagers.
Parlays generated $81 million in handle.
For the year, operators have held 17.6% on parlay bets.
