Sports betting customers in New Jersey wagered more than $1bn in December 2021, marking the fourth consecutive month in which the state’s betting handle surpassed the billion-dollar mark.
According to the latest figures from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), total betting handle in the state surpassed $10bn in 2021 as the final month of the year continued to build on the state’s upward trajectory.
Online and land-based sportsbooks handled a total of $1.23bn last month, slightly below the state’s all-time monthly record of $1.30bn recorded in October, and 23.4% ahead of the figure recorded in December 2020.
Of last month’s total, $1.1bn, or 90.3%, came from online sportsbooks, with retail accounting for the remaining $119.3m. Sportsbook operators were able to generate $59.0m in revenue and contributed $8.9m in state and local taxes.
For the full year, this brought total gross revenue for sportsbooks to $815.8m, more than double 2020’s total, with handle also up some 80% year-on-year to $10.9bn.
The total taxes paid to the state by sportsbooks in 2021 also more than doubled year-on-year to $122.0m.
In addition to the continuing expansion of sports betting in the state, the iGaming vertical, including online casino and poker, generated $133.2m in revenue in December, surpassing the previous record of $127.0m set in October.
For the full year 2021, iGaming brought in $1.4bn in gross revenue, with the vast majority coming from casino games. The sector paid $239.2m in taxes to the state.
Land-based casinos in the state brought in a further $211.8m in December, bringing the total monthly state revenue across all verticals to $404.1m.
Borgata, which is owned by MGM Resorts International and boasts an online and land-based presence in the state, was the biggest revenue generator in December, bringing in a total of $98.3m, or 24.3% of all state revenue.
Mohegan Sun-owned Resorts Casino Hotel, whose partnership with DraftKings allowed the online operator to launch in the state, was the next largest, bringing in $57.0m, while Golden Nugget took third place with total revenue of $46.7m.
Things are looking good for the Garden State, however many expect these revenues to suffer in the coming months following the January launch of neighbouring New York’s online sports betting market.
New York, where mobile sports betting was illegal up to 8 January, neighbours New Jersey. Bettors were previously forced to cross state lines to get their wagers on, in neighbouring states including New Jersey.
For example, FanDuel and DraftKings estimated in 2020 that as much as 25% of their revenue in New Jersey came from New York making the sports betting pilgrimage across state lines.
And with more than double the amount of residents, New York’s early days post-launch have suggested that figures there could soon eclipse New Jersey as the largest online gambling market in the US.
More than 17 million betting transactions took place in New York within just 36 hours of the market being live. This put the state well ahead of the next largest state by transaction volume (Pennsylvania).
The eight million transactions processed in the five boroughs of New York City alone put the Big Apple ahead of any other state in terms of volume. Five operators are currently licensed to offer mobile sports betting in New York; DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment and Rush Street Interactive.