Weak Sports Betting Offsets New Jersey’s Strong Casino & iGaming Results in August  

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement published its latest gaming revenue report, outlining the performance of the state’s gambling industry in August. The New Jersey industry’s metrics continued to grow as most verticals posted strong results. Sports betting, on the contrary, experienced a sharp decline.

The Overall Revenue Increased Slightly

The local casinos, racetracks and their partners reported $555.1 million in revenue for the period, marking a 4.4% increase year-on-year. The industry, for context, reported $531.6 million in revenue in August 2023.

On a year-to-date basis, total gaming revenue stood at $4.16 billion, reflecting a 10.5% increase from $3.77 billion reported in the prior year-to-date period.

Overall, casino revenue continued to recover from the pandemic, while the iGaming sector posted some of its strongest financials ever. Sports betting, on the other hand, performed suboptimally but still fared well on a year-to-date basis thanks to stronger performance in previous months.

How the Different Verticals Performed?

The casino sector fared favorably as Atlantic City’s nine casino hotels posted a 4.9% increase in casino win to $294 million. Year-to-date casino win for the nine properties stood at $1.92 billion and was more or less in line with the August 2023 report.

Internet gaming win, on the other hand, skyrocketed by 27.8% to $198.4 million, reflecting continued growth. The figure marks a dramatic increase when compared to $155.3 million in August 2023. For the year-to-date period, internet gaming win reached $1.52 billion, up 22.7% from $1.24 billion from the prior year-to-date period.

Sports wagering gross revenue, however, experienced a sharp decline from August 2023. Whereas the industry reported $96 million in sports wagering gross revenue in August last year, the New Jersey casinos, racetracks and their partners now reported only $62.7 million, marking a 34.7% year-on-year decrease.

Despite the temporary setback, the sports betting sector was still able to post favorable year-to-date results, underpinned by stronger performance earlier in the year. The year-to-date sports wagering gross revenue reported by casinos, racetracks, and their partners was $715.8 million, up 19.7% from $597.9 million in the prior year-to-date period.

NJ Casino Workers Wish to Ban Indoor Smoking

In other news, activists in New Jersey continued their fight for smoke-free casinos. New Republican involvement reinvigorated the efforts, sparking hopes that it could possibly revive a smoking ban bill that failed to pass in 2023.

Industry giants remain reluctant to ban smoking as they fear that it would undermine their revenues but casino workers are increasingly vocal about their disgruntlement with the state of affairs.