New Jersey sports betting continues to outpace Nevada bookies

For the third time in four months, New Jersey has topped Nevada in total sports betting action.

The Garden State has taken $2 billion in wagers for the year to date and the mobile operators are taking the lion’s share of the money. The land-based retail operators have contributed around $460.3 million of that total.

Since the end of August 2019 there have been five new NJ sportsbook apps, three of which were brand new and two that were rebranded. Those five apps are TheScore Bet, Bet365 NJ,
Unibet NJ, BetMGM (formerly PlayMGM sportsbook) and Fox Bet NJ (formerly BetStars NJ).

The market for sports betting in New Jersey continues to grow. Around 80% of the sports betting handle in the state is taken online and that growth will likely stay strong with the addition of more sports betting applications.

Nevada has mobile betting as well, but the regulations in place for the state don’t let players sign up remotely for sports betting apps. This considerably limits the online presence in the state and that gives the edge to NJ.

DraftKings Sportsbook was the first that launched in New Jersey, back in August 2018. Since the DraftKings NJ app launched their revenues have increased past those for Nevada.

The first month that the handle for sports betting was bigger in New Jersey than Nevada was in May 2019. In July, New Jersey came close to breaking the monthly handle for sports betting.

Johnny Avello, who is the director of sportsbook operations for DraftKings, stated that he was “not surprised at all” when asked about New Jersey’s skyrocketing sports betting industry.

“The product we offer the NJ residents is paramount so in my opinion, it’s the best place to wager on sports in the country,” Avello said.

He also noted the respective populations of the two states, with New Jersey having nine million residents while Nevada has three million.

FanDuel Sportsbook, which operates under the license of the Meadowlands Racetrack, has also played a major role in New Jersey’s recent dominance. Kevin Hennessy, a FanDuel spokesperson, recently stated that the sports betting handle they are taking in New Jersey has exceeded the company’s expectations.

“We have a great product that offers customers an unsurpassed sports experience and that is what has made it the No. 1 online sportsbook in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,” he said.

In the month of August of this year the Meadowlands Racetrack reported a revenue from sports betting in New Jersey of $11.8 million and $9.3 million of that came from bets taken online. The second spot for the month was Resorts Digital reporting a revenue stream of $6.7 million.

The operators in New Jersey are benefitting from the sports bets made outside of the area of New York City, where there are in excess of eight million residents. There are land-based betting options in New York, but most of these casino-based bookmakers are a three-hour car ride away from the Big Apple. On the other side of the coin, FanDuel’s operation at The Meadowlands in Tioga Downs is only 10 miles away from the New York and New Jersey border.

New York does not yet have legalized mobile sports betting, but players from the Empire State only have to cross the border in order to make sports bets on the many NJ mobile apps available.

“We have 20% of our online customers coming from New York,” Hennessy said.

“Our retail space at the Meadowlands Racetrack has more than 50% of the retail market, and a good reason for that is being a stones throw away from the New York border.”

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