The Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) recently released the gambling revenue figures for December of 2019, which showed that online wagering is still king in New Jersey. While the handle for the month was not as high as November, it was enough to tip the total handle for the year to $4.5 billion.
Most of the sports and casino bets in New Jersey were made online, as those types of wagers account for 88% of the total for the month of December. That was the highest percentage of any month since New Jersey legalized sports betting in mid-2018. Both the sportsbooks of FanDuel and DraftKings continued to lead the market, with each bringing in a revenue of $30 million last month.
While sports betting has been the hot topic in New Jersey, casino gambling is still on the top of the heap. Online casino revenue for December was almost $50 million and the three gambling arms of the Borgata, Resorts, and Tropicana set monthly records.
While the online casino arm of the Golden Nugget did not set a monthly record in December, it still ranks number one in NJ by a wide margin. Nevertheless, the Nugget gave up some of its market share to the NJ online casinos of Resorts and Borgata.
In December the New Jersey online poker sites saw a revenue of $1.7 million, which was their second-highest month of the year, and the increase in growth of 16.2% was the biggest month-to-month jump since June of 2017.
In 2019 the Atlantic City casinos had a revenue figure of $3.2 billion – the biggest yearly total since 2012. Still, the Tropicana, Harrah’s, Bally’s, Resorts, and Caesars all saw a year-on-year decrease.
There is a lot of debate as to whether the New Jersey casino market is saturated. Chris Grove, who is a partner at Eilers & Krejcik, believes the Atlantic City gambling industry is sustainable.
He said, “We are way past the early-adopter stage on the casino side. New Jersey is a very healthy state from an economic perspective and the marketing and promotional environment appear sustainable for at least the near to midterm.”