The Garden State gaming industry was firing on all cylinders in August as it exceeded $500 million in revenue for only the second time in its history while New Jersey sports betting contributed over $96 million.
The House Rules in August
They say the house always wins and that was never truer than in August when New Jersey’s retail casinos, iGaming platforms, and sportsbooks combined for a massive $531 million haul in combined revenue. It was the second-highest revenue-producing month in the state’s history and in-person gaming paved the way with over $280 million which showed an increase of 2.3% from last August.
James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said: “Atlantic City’s total gaming revenue in August exceeded $500 million for only the second time in history, and it is on pace for a very strong year. The casino hotels reported their second-highest total gaming revenue since inception and their highest result in 18 years.”
In-Person Revenue Rebounds
The in-person revenue is the key metric for casino owners as they keep all of the profits – minus taxes – while revenue produced from online casino gambling, commonly referred to as iGaming and mobile sports betting platforms must be shared with the platform providers and can be as high as 70% of the revenue.
Therefore, the increase of 2.3%, as slight as it is, from August 2022 is a positive sign for the retail gaming industry in New Jersey and continues to rebound from the depths of the COVID-19 shutdown a few years ago. In pre-COVID 2019, the overall retail revenue in August was less than $6 million higher which is good news for the casino owners and the industry at large.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, and Tourism at Stockton University, who studies the Atlantic City gambling industry believes the upward trajectory could very well continue.
“If New Jersey follows nationwide trends, we may be looking at the industry’s best year for (gross gambling revenue) in more than a decade,” she said in an interview with the Associated Press.
Sportsbooks Rake 3rd Highest Haul
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported adjusted gross revenue (AGR) for New Jersey’s sportsbooks combined for over $96 million, the third-highest month for that sector in the state’s history. Only the $114.8 million record set in November 2021 and the $98 million in AGR last September yielded higher results.
A string of dizzying win rates, or what the sportsbooks call their hold, continued as sportsbooks averaged 13.2% which is the fourth consecutive month in which the sports betting industry posted a double-digit win rate.
And in another stunning statistic, the combined handle (total bets accepted) was nearly $726 million which was a whopping 32.8% increase over August 2022. This pushed New Jersey into the stratosphere as they are now the first state in the post-PASPA era to report a historical handle of over $40 billion.
The state’s tax coffers swelled by $12.3 million bringing the yearly total to $76.6 million on $6.5 billion in accepted wagers in 2023.
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