The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced Tuesday the September 2022 financial results. Casinos, horse tracks offering sports wagering, and their online partners won $485 million in the past month, a 7% uptick compared to the same period last year.
The state’s nine casinos saw a total win of $251.7 million, reflecting growth of 1.3% compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date, total casino revenue for the nine Atlantic City properties was $2.13 billion, which represents a 12.5% rise compared to 2021.
Hard Rock and Ocean casinos were the two most successful venues over the past month, with the other seven still trailing the revenue levels they had before the pandemic hit. However, signs of recovery can be seen in that six of the nine properties won more from in-person gamblers last September than they did in September 2019.
Ocean Resort & Casino.
Over the first nine months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2019, Bally’s was down 10.3% while Borgata saw a 1.2% decline. Caesars was down 9.3%, and Golden Nugget fell 25.2%. Harrah’s saw a drop of 17.2%, and Resorts fell 5.9%. Tropicana was down 16.8%. On the other hand, Ocean was up 68.3% and Hard Rock was up 51.8%.
As reported by the Press of Atlantic City, Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, pointed out that September’s mild weather “helped contribute to a strong start to the fall season for Atlantic City’s casino operators.”
“At this rate, Atlantic City’s casino operators are likely to meet and potentially exceed pre-pandemic end-of-year totals for both brick-and-mortar and total gaming revenue,” she predicted.
When it comes to online gambling, casinos and their partners saw $135.2 million, accounting for a 10.3% growth compared to the same period last year. Since the beginning of this year to date, internet gaming win experienced growth of 23.2% compared to $988.7 million in 2021.
The casinos and the three horse racing tracks that offer sports betting saw nearly $867 million in sports wagering handle in September, keeping nearly $98 million as revenue after paying off winning bets and other expenses. The revenue figure was up nearly 19% from a year ago.
Sports wagering gross revenue reported by casinos, racetracks and their partners was $516 million during the nine months of the year to date, reflecting a 7.3% decline compared to $557.8 million for the prior period.
A September breakdown by property shows Bally’s won nearly $15.9 million from in-person gamblers during the month, up 12.8% from a year ago. In terms of online gambling, its revenue reached $3.7 million against just $337,000 a year earlier. It won over $905,000 from sports betting, up from $126,000 a year ago.
Borgata saw $62.3 million from in-person gambling, up 3.5% compared to 2021. It saw $41.1 million online, rising 7.6%, and it won over $10 million from sports bets. Caesars saw $22.4 million from in-person players, up 1.8% from 2021. It made nearly $1.5 million from sports betting, compared to a loss of over $380,000 a year ago.
Golden Nugget won nearly $13.5 million from in-person gambling, up 4.3% from a year ago. It saw over $34 million online, up 10%, and it won just over $224,000 from sports betting, about twice what it did last year.
Hard Rock made $43.6 million from in-person gamblers, up 6.3% compared to September 2021. It won nearly $5.7 million online, down 2% and it made $1.8 million from sports bets, marginally above its last year’s numbers.
Harrah’s won $23.2 million on its gaming floor, which represented a 15.5% decline compared to 2021. It lost almost $83,000 online, compared with winnings of nearly $386,000 a year ago.
Ocean casino saw nearly $30.6 million from in-person gamblers, up 5.2% from a year ago. It won nearly $2.4 million online, about double what it did a year ago, and saw over $536,000 in sports bets, down from the $1.6 million it raked in a year ago.
Resorts won $16.7 million from in-person gamblers, down 3% from a year ago. Its online affiliate, Resort Digital, won over $34 million, up 20.5% and the casino saw nearly $229,900 in sports bets, about half what it made last year.
Tropicana raked in $23.3 million, down 4% from September 2021. It made nearly $4.9 million online, down 32% compared to a year earlier. Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ, affiliated with Caesars, Harrah’s and Tropicana, won over $9 million online, down nearly 11% from a year ago.
See New Jersey’s full September results here.