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New Jersey's Record-Shattering Sports Betting Handle Edges Closer to $1 Billion
By Jeff Osienya Dec 17, 2020 IndustryNew Jersey has outdone itself for the fourth month straight after recording a sports betting handle of over $900 million. Thanks to that tremendous volume of wagers, NJ is officially the first US state to surpass the $5 billion handle mark in a year!For the fourth month running New Jersey has broken its own record for the highest sports betting handle collected by a single state in the USA, this time nearing the $1 billion mark. The state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement released a report indicating that sportsbooks in the state had collected a total of $931.6 million in sports bets in November.
With that superb figure, the Garden State has once again bested itself to set a new all-time high sports betting handle. Compared to October’s handle which was worth $803.1 million, sports bettors in New Jersey spent 16% more money overall on wagers, to soar the state’s sports betting industry into greater heights.
More Firsts for the Garden State’s Sports Betting Industry
Better yet, thanks to the $900 million-plus handle for November, the Garden State’s sports betting handle finally crossed the $5 billion mark for the very first time inside a year, yet another milestone for the state. 2020’s figure so far is 9.6% more than the $4.58 billion worth of wagers that players spent on sports betting in 2019. It’s also worth noting that no other state in the country has managed to see sports bettors wager more than $5 billion within one year.
And no, the most impressive aspect of New Jersey's achievement is not because there’s one more month of sports betting left before the year ends. It is an incredible feat because all the major sports leagues in the country were put on hold from mid-March to the end of July due to the Covid-19 crisis and the sports betting industry in the state still managed to outshine 2019’s numbers.
93.6% of the total handle that was collected by sportsbooks in the Garden State came from online sports betting platforms, with $827.1 million whereas the remaining 6.4% or $59.54 million was from in-person wagers in retail betting shops. From the massive handle, sports betting operators went home with $50.6 million in revenue whereas the state raked in $6.2 million for its coffers based on the 5.4% taxation. Since January the total for betting revenue stands at a cool $332.1 million, 23% higher than what was recorded over the same period last year.
The Fanduel/PointsBet sportsbook alliance at Meadowlands won the most revenue from their online operations with a $24.8 million GGR. DraftKings and Resorts Digital came in second after racking up a GGR or $14.6 million whereas William Hill and Ocean Casino rounded up the top three spots with a $3.6 million revenue.
Football Bets Account for Almost Half of All the Wagers
Just like October and the months before that, football wagers continue to be the biggest driver for growth in the Garden State. The wildly popular American sport brought in nearly 50% of the overall handle with $433.3 million in wagers placed on completed events in November, almost twice as much as the $278.9 million worth of bets garnered for October.
In second place the ‘other’ sports betting category which comprises all other sports except football, basketball, baseball, and parlays, followed football after recording $221.5 million in wagers for completed events in November. The number three spot was scooped by the parlay category after collecting a total of $194.3 million from completed events and was trailed by basketball and baseball each having completed-events handles worth $88.5 million and 1.2 million respectively
Casino Gaming in NJ Falls Short Again Because of the Pandemic
While sports bettors in the Garden State made history through their handle, the same can’t be said for casino gaming. Casinos only managed to win $146.6 million in November, which is 34.6% lower year-on-year for the same month as the gaming houses continue operating under Coronavirus restrictions.
Online gaming however showed terrific growth year-on-year after surging by 86.9% to a whopping $91.8 million. However, compared to October 2020, it was slightly lower than the $93.5 million record that was set in that month. online casino games were the biggest movers for iGaming revenue with $89.4 million after an 87.7% gain whereas online poker was responsible for the remaining $2.4 million, up by over 60%.
Moving on to operator-specific revenue, Golden Nugget led the pack as highlighted below, with a comparison to the growth or decline from November 2019;
- Golden Nugget collected $26 million (+37.5%)
- The Borgata brought in $23.4 million (+185%)
- Resorts Digital Gaming accrued 21 million (+90.8%)
- Caesars International Entertainment won $8.1 million
- Hard Rock garnered $6.3 million (+189.1%)
- The Tropicana won $6.1 million (+66%)
- The Ocean Casino Resort earned $948k (+72.4%)
Overall, for the first 11 months of the year, New Jersey has garnered a total revenue of $870.9 million, 101% more than the revenue it collected between January and November last year.
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