The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released its numbers for gambling in the Garden State state for June, and the results showed year-over-year increases in virtually all sectors.
Gaming Sizzles in June
Summer is heating up along the Boardwalk as reflected in June’s numbers, which revealed gaming revenue topping $457 million, a whopping 13.9% versus June 2022. The state’s nine Boardwalk casinos showed an increase of 5.4% over last June, earning $241.6 million, while the properties have profited $1.36 billion over the first six months of this year, up 3.5% from the same time frame last year.
Online casino gambling, also known as iGaming, showed a marked increase over last year as reflected by the $149.3 million in revenue, an increase of over 12.1% from June of last year. Over the first six months of 2023, the iGaming sector has grown 14.3% from last year, earning $930.8 million, compared to $814.5 million over the same time in 2022.
Sports betting has shown tremendous growth over last year, with $66.4 million in June, a stunning 69.1% year-over-year increase, while sports betting gross revenue for the first six months stands at $440.8 million, which is an impressive 42.8% better than January to June 2022.
Impressive Totals
When combining all of New Jersey’s gaming sectors for the first six months, the operators have posted $2.73 billion in profits compared to last year’s $2.42 billion, which is a 12.1% increase over last year. The iGaming sector has contributed a great deal to the increase and shows no signs of slowing down, nor has it cannibalized the retail casino business as many operators had initially feared.
The chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, James Plousis, commented on the triumvirate of mobile sports betting, iGaming, and retail casino wagering as all necessary components to a thriving Atlantic City gaming market.
“Gains in all three reported areas — casino win, internet gaming win, and sports wagering revenue — demonstrate that online and traditional gaming are a winning combination,” Plousis said.
Newest Casinos Making Their Mark
For years, the Borgata was the top dog in the Atlantic City gaming market and had a stranglehold on the luxury segment of the industry. And although they are still the team to beat, the region’s two newest hotels, the Hard Rock and Ocean, have proven themselves over the first five years of their existence.
The Hard Rock is where the old Trump Taj Mahal was and Ocean stands where Revel used to be, but the financial struggles the previous incarnations experienced are a world away from their thriving replacements. Both hired Borgata management when they entered the New Jersey market and brought the total number of Boardwalk casino properties back to nine.
At the end of last year, Hard Rock showed a profit of $128 million, while Ocean reported $96 million in gross operating profit, compared to $140 million for Borgata. But while Hard Rock’s profits were up almost 20% and Ocean showed a 5.5% increase, Borgata was down nearly 20%.
A Growing Industry
Although the Hard Rock and Ocean have taken market share away from the Borgata as well as the other six properties, they have contributed to the overall health of the industry in Atlantic City, according to Jane Bokunewicz, the director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market.
“Hard Rock and Ocean each took on the unenviable task of rehabilitating shuttered casinos that sat as a blight on the northern end of the Atlantic City Boardwalk,” Bokunewicz said. “They re-energized the local casino market and significantly contributed to a period of reinvestment and development for the city overall. It is a bit hard to imagine where Atlantic City might be today if not for the events of the summer of 2018.”
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