In February, Igaming once again became the main source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with the overall market revenue in the Garden State increasing by 5.1% year-over-year.
Total revenue reached $484.8 million (£373.5 million/€444 million). The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) reported that this figure exceeded that of February 2024, but was 12.5% less than January this year.
Two of the state's three core markets saw growth, with both online gambling and sports betting increasing. The decline in revenue from physical casinos only partially offset this growth.
New Jersey Gambling Revenue Grows 14%
Starting with the main source of revenue, igaming, revenue grew 14% year-over-year to $207.8 million. This is only the third time igaming has attracted the most gambling revenue in a single month in New Jersey.
Specifically, $205.4 million came from "other authorized games," including slots, up 14% from last year. Another $2.4 million came from peer-to-peer poker, up 2.6%.
FanDuel and Golden Nugget Atlantic City topped the charts with total revenue of $44.1 million (up 10.3%). DraftKings and Resorts Casino Hotel followed closely with total revenue of $43.1 million, up 5.9%.
Following them were BetMGM and Borgata, with revenues of $28.2 million, while Borgata's own platform revenue was $20 million. Caesars and Tropicana Atlantic City were also among the top five in igaming, with revenues of $14 million each.
Despite a Decrease in Betting Amounts, Sports Betting Revenue Rises
Speaking of sports betting in New Jersey, revenue in this segment grew 8.9% year-over-year to $73.6 million in February.
About $72.7 million of this came from online gambling, up 11.1%. However, retail sports betting revenue fell 60.9% to $824,895.
In terms of spending, players wagered a total of $988.9 million on sports betting in February. This figure is 8.5% less than last year and 14.2% less than in January this year. Online betting amounted to about $949.6 million, while the state's retail sports betting wagered $39.3 million.
This means that the monthly hold percentage for February was 7.44%.
In the operator market, FanDuel and Meadowlands maintained a leading position in the online market. The partnership generated $33.9 million in revenue for the month, up 27.2% from last year. NJDGE does not disclose individual operator accounts.
FanDuel's long-time rival DraftKings ranked second in New Jersey again through its partnership with Resorts Casino Hotel. However, its revenue of $20.3 million was down 16.4% from last year.
BetMGM and Borgata still ranked third with revenue of $5.9 million, up 41.9%. Fanatics and Bally's ranked fourth with revenue of $3.5 million, as their partnership only began in May 2024, so there is no year-over-year data.
Bet365 and Hard Rock ranked in the top five in sports betting revenue with $4 million, up 35.1%.
As for retail gambling, only 3 of the state's 9 operators achieved positive revenue. So far, the most successful has been Resorts Casino Hotel, with revenue of $81,843.
Land-based Casino Revenue Drops to $203.5 Million
Overall, Atlantic City's physical casino gambling revenue fell 3.8% to $203.5 million in February.
Slot machine revenue fell 4.3% to $152.1 million, while table game revenue fell 2.5% to $51.4 million.
Borgata remains the market leader, with revenue of $49.9 million, down 6.9%. Hard Rock followed closely with revenue of $41.9 million, up 1.8%. Ocean Casino's revenue was $32.4 million, up 4.3%.
Will Gambling Taxes in New Jersey Increase?
As for taxes, New Jersey collected a total of $53.3 million from the gambling industry in February. This includes $31.1 million from online gambling, $12.7 million from physical casinos, $9.4 million from online sports betting, and $161,488 from retail sports betting.
However, if Governor Phil Murphy's proposal succeeds, the taxes paid by operators in the future will increase. Last month, Murphy proposed raising the tax rates for sports betting and online gambling from 13% and 15% to 25% respectively.
This move has drawn criticism from the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), whose heavyweight members include BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook, and FanDuel.
The U.S. Small Business Administration stated: "Raising the sports betting tax will make the cost of sports betting higher for customers, slow down operators' investment in employment and local business partnerships, and put the regulated industry at a disadvantage compared to unregulated and offshore operators that do not pay state taxes."
