New Jersey’s gambling market showed steady resilience in June, posting a 7.4% growth compared to the same month last year. The combined earnings from land-based casinos, igaming, and sports betting reached an impressive $491.0 million. This figure marks a significant improvement over last June's $457.2 million, although it represents a slight decline of 3.7% from May’s $510.0 million.
Land-Based Casinos Steady as Igaming Surges
In the land-based casino sector, revenue saw a modest increase of 1.0% to $244.1 million. Slot machines were the primary contributors, generating $184.0 million, which was a slight rise of 0.6%. Table games also made notable gains, seeing a 2.5% increase to reach $60.1 million. These figures underline the sustained appeal of traditional casino gaming even as digital alternatives continue to grow.
Speaking of digital growth, igaming revenue surged by an impressive 25.2% year-on-year, amounting to $186.8 million. Despite this growth, igaming revenue still trailed behind the land-based sector by $57.3 million. Within the igaming figures, "other authorized games" contributed a significant $184.4 million, marking a 25.6% increase. However, peer-to-peer poker saw a decline, with revenue dropping by 2.9% to $2.5 million.
Top Performers in Igaming
Among the top performers in the igaming sector, Golden Nugget generated $51.5 million, reflecting a 23.3% increase from the previous year. Resorts Digital wasn’t far behind, with a 36.4% year-on-year increase, reaching $48.6 million. The Borgata also showed solid growth, with its igaming revenue up by 8.8% to $42.9 million.
Challenges in Sports Betting
Sports betting revenue faced some challenges, declining by 9.5% year-on-year to $60.1 million, and also experiencing a 23.7% drop from May's $78.8 million. Despite this, the number of bets placed by New Jersey residents grew significantly. Residents placed bets worth $748.4 million, a remarkable 26.6% increase from last year’s $591.1 million. Of this, online bets amounted to $719.0 million, while retail sportsbooks took in $29.5 million in bets.
Among the major players in sports betting, FanDuel led the pack by generating $29.1 million in revenue. DraftKings followed with $14.4 million, while BetMGM and Bet365 reported revenues of $3.7 million and $3.4 million, respectively. Fanatics Sportsbook contributed $1.8 million in sports betting revenue.
Economic Contributions and Tax Revenues
New Jersey’s gambling industry also made substantial contributions to the state’s economy, paying $47.8 million in taxes in June alone. This included $16.2 million from land-based casino gross revenue tax, $28.0 million from igaming internet gross revenue tax, and $3.6 million from internet sports wagering tax. Retail sports wagering from casinos and racetracks added smaller amounts, with $7,782 and $71,191 in taxes, respectively.
First Half of the Year Performance
Looking at the broader picture, the total market revenue for the first six months of the year reached $3.06 billion, marking a 12.2% rise from last year’s $2.73 billion. Land-based casinos contributed $1.36 billion to this total. Breaking it down further, slot machines generated $998.3 million, while table games brought in $357.8 million during the first half of the year.
Igaming continued its upward trend, with revenue for the first six months hitting $1.1 billion, reflecting a 21.4% increase year-on-year. "Other authorized games" drove most of this revenue, contributing $1.12 billion, up 21.8%. Peer-to-peer poker, however, contributed only $14.1 million, a decline of 4.2%.
Sports betting saw robust performance over the first half of the year, with revenue reaching $573.1 million, up 30.0% year-on-year. The year-to-date handle for sports betting surpassed $6.76 billion, with online sports betting contributing $6.53 billion and retail locations adding $231.0 million to the handle.
Despite facing challenges in the sports betting sector, the gambling market in New Jersey demonstrates resilience and adaptability, with significant growth in both the igaming and land-based casino sectors. These figures underline the evolving dynamics of the state’s gambling industry, promising a robust future ahead.