Mobile sports betting and iGaming are bolstering New Jersey’s vibrant gaming market, as September was the third month this year in which gaming revenue surpassed $500 million.
September to Remember
Not long ago, New Jersey’s gaming market was relegated to the nine Boardwalk casinos. However, that paradigm has shifted due to the introduction of digital gaming in the Garden State. Mobile sports betting is one factor, but iGaming has given an even bigger boost to the Garden State market.
Although the lion’s share of New Jersey’s gaming revenue is still derived from Atlantic City’s land-based casinos, of the $558 million in revenues for September, $208 million was generated by mobile sports and online casino gambling, a 7.1% year-over-year increase.
“The ongoing success of internet gaming helped push Atlantic City’s total gaming revenue to its highest figure for the month of September in over a decade,” said James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. “For the third consecutive month, total gaming revenue surpassed $500 million. Last year, total gaming revenue eclipsed $500 million only in August.”
The litmus test for measuring land-based casinos’ revenue numbers is to compare them to the 2019 pre-COVID year when the market was unaffected by the pandemic. If we compare September’s retail casino numbers to those of September 2019, we see a $6 million jump in revenue. However, only four casinos experienced an increase from five years ago, while the remaining five showed a loss.
The MGM’s Borgata topped the pack of Boardwalk casinos in Atlantic City. September’s gaming numbers for the state’s nine casinos are listed below.
In-Person Revenues in September (year-over-year increase or decrease in parentheses):
- Borgata: $62.4 million (+15%)
- Hard Rock: $44.6 million (-4.7%)
- Ocean: $28.4 million (-28%)
- Caesars: $20.5 million (-4.1%)
- Harrah’s: $18.6 million (-16.3%)
- Tropicana: $17.9 million (-16.3%)
- Resorts: $14.3 million (-3.9%)
- Bally’s: $12.5 million (-4.4%)
- Golden Nugget: $11 million (-12.5%)
In-Person and Internet Gambling Revenues Included (year-over-year increase or decrease in parentheses):
- Borgata: $120.2 million (+12%)
- Resorts: $106.5 million (-3.4%)
- Golden Nugget: $72.8 million (+25.8%)
- Hard Rock: $64.4 million (+10.8%)
- Ocean: $33.9 million (-24%)
- Bally’s: $24.1 million (+19.2%)
- Caesars: $20.6 million (-3.4%)
- Harrah’s: $18.7 million (-16.6%)
- Tropicana: $18.1 million (-16%)
Mobile Gaming Growing
Casinos are leery of internet gaming even though they get a piece of the profits. When revenue is created in their retail casinos, the corporation keeps all that money, but when it comes to iGaming, the casino companies must share that with their third-party platform providers.
Considering online gaming contributed nearly 41% of the revenue over New Jersey’s first three quarters of 2024, that can be a bit disconcerting to the companies that rely on patrons to walk through their doors, gamble in their casinos, eat at the restaurants, and patronize the shops that keep thousands of workers employed.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, said September’s numbers were “a mixed bag,” citing digital revenues that “seemed to leave brick-and-mortar gaming revenues behind.”
“Year-to-date, internet gaming continues to represent a significant share of Atlantic City operators’ revenue mix, contributing 40.8% of the total revenue for the industry through the first three quarters of the year,” she said.
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