New Jersey’s casino and sports betting operators, along with their online partners, achieved a record-breaking revenue of nearly $5.8 billion in 2023, an impressive 11% increase from the previous year, according to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
However, the news is mixed for Atlantic City’s nine casinos, as two-thirds of them continue to generate less revenue from in-person gamblers compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, The Associated Press reported.
The data reveals that the combined winnings of the casinos, three horse tracks with sports betting facilities, and their online collaborators amounted to $5.77 billion in 2023. This surpassed the state’s previous all-time high of $5.2 billion in 2006 and matched last year.
Notably, only half of this total revenue stemmed from the casinos’ primary source of income—money earned on their physical premises. The remainder, generated from internet gambling and sports betting, is shared with various entities, including tech platforms and sportsbooks.
For six of the city’s nine casinos, the in-person gambling business faced challenges in 2023. Only the Borgata, Hard Rock, and Ocean casinos experienced growth in revenue from in-person gamblers compared to 2019. The collective revenue from in-person gamblers for the casinos exceeded 2019 levels, reaching $2.8 billion; however, this achievement was primarily driven by the robust performance of the three most recently established casinos.
James Plousis, Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, remains optimistic about the overall figures. He highlights that in-person casino winnings reached the highest point in a decade, internet gambling revenue exceeded the 2022 record by over 15%, and sports wagering revenue set a yearly record.
“New Jersey’s vision for a vibrant and competitive Atlantic City is coming to fruition after the addition of online gaming and sports wagering,” Plousis was quoted as saying in the AP report.
Jane Bokunewicz, Director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, focusing on the Atlantic City gambling market, highlighted that the record-breaking total revenue performance was made possible by the substantial contributions of new gaming products.
Internet gaming and sports wagering played a pivotal role, contributing nearly 46% to the total gaming revenue for the year. “The industry’s gamble on innovative new gaming products for the internet gaming and sports wagering markets seems to be paying off,” she said, as per the cited report.
In terms of revenue from in-person gamblers, Borgata led the market with $729 million, a marginal increase of less than 1%. Hard Rock and Ocean won $512 million (up 4.1%) and nearly $415 million (up 16.3%), respectively.
In-person earnings for other casinos in 2023 were as follows: Harrah’s recorded $254 million, experiencing a 1.5% decline; Tropicana achieved $240 million, with a 3.3% decrease; Caesars generated $231 million, marking a 1.7% decrease; Resorts secured $163 million, reflecting a 2.3% decrease; Bally’s earned $155 million, with a marginal increase of less than 1%; and Golden Nugget attained $146 million, showing a 1.8% decrease.
Sports betting generated over $1 billion in revenue from nearly $12 billion worth of bets placed by gamblers. Internet gambling saw a notable increase, bringing in over $1.9 billion in 2023, up nearly 16% from the previous year.
When factoring in revenue from internet and sports betting, the financial performance of casinos was as follows: Borgata achieved $1.3 billion, maintaining a similar level to the previous year; Golden Nugget saw substantial growth, reaching nearly $672 million, representing a 15.5% increase; Hard Rock recorded $626 million, marking an 8.6% increase.
Ocean attained nearly $473 million, reflecting a significant 21.4% increase; Tropicana secured $366 million, remaining virtually unchanged from the previous year; Harrah’s generated $255 million, experiencing a 1% decrease; Bally’s earned nearly $239 million, with a noteworthy 20.7% increase; Caesars yielded $233 million, showing a 2.6% decrease; and Resorts accumulated $163 million, reflecting a 2.7% decrease.
Among internet-only entities, Resorts Digital led with $822 million (up 50.4%), while Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ earned $90 million (down 20.7%).