New Jersey online casinos and retail sports books set another record by handling north of $1.3 billion in wagers this October. Of course, such a volume resulted in record revenue, as well.
“Five weekends in October meant an unusual amount of NFL and college football to bet on, and plenty of free time for gamblers to visit Atlantic City, making fresh records inevitable,” said David Danzis, an analyst for PlayNJ.com. “But what will have a longer-lasting effect is if the market for sports betting and online gambling continues to expand while Atlantic City continues to recover following the pandemic. That combination is producing some jaw-dropping results.”
New Jersey’s online and retail sports books drew $1.3 billion in bets in October, easily topping September’s record handle of $1.01 billion by 28.9%, according to official reporting released Wednesday. October’s betting volume was up 62.3% from the $803.1 million generated in October 2020. Sports books won $84.2 million in October, up 43.8% from $58.5 million in October 2020 and up 2.1% from $82.4 million in September. October’s revenue topped the previous record of $82.6 million set in January and yielded $12.7 million in state taxes.
Five full weekends of NFL and college football were a boon for sports books, boosting football betting to $499.0 million in October from $400.8 million in September. The start of the NBA season helped pour another $156.9 million into sports books. New Jersey online casinos also posted it’s own record month, making them Pennsylvania the first states to generate $1 billion in annual gross revenue from online casino games, according to PlayNJ
“With so much to bet on in October, state records for wagering are falling in every major legal sports betting market in the U.S.,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayNJ.com. “New Jersey separates itself because bettor enthusiasm for the NBA outstrips most every other market, which pushes its ceiling during a month like October to heights that were once unreachable in the U.S.”
Besides the success of New Jersey online casinos, their web based sports books took in $1.2 billion in wagers, accounting for 90.5% of the state’s handle in October. FanDuel/PointsBet/SuperBook continued their dominance of the online market with $39.6 million in gross revenue, up from $36.6 million in September. Retail sports books set a record, too, with $124.2 million in October, up from $92.7 million in wagers in September. Meadowlands/FanDuel led the retail market with $4.5 million in revenue.
“More than just a growing base of bettors, online sports books are expanding their reach with in-game betting and prop bets,” Ramsey said. “The result is that bettors are placing more wagers as they become more comfortable with that kind of action.”