New Jersey Sports Betting Revenue Reaches $184 Million

The state of quite lucrative in that regard but even the biggest of optimists could have hardly predicted the gold rush to follow in September…

…In fact, this financial avalanche was just revealed in all of its glory and it turns out to have doubled in size!

Beyond All Expectations

In total, New Jersey’s sportsbooks have accepted $184 million in sports wagers in September, which is more than DOUBLE the figure in August, which stood at $96 million.

The figure was published by NJ’s regulatory body, NJDGE, on Friday…

…And the staggering rise has a lot to thank to the start of the NFL season, of course, but it also coincided with the launch of new mobile and online operators. The total sports betting revenue was almost $24 million – Meadowlands earned $7.2 million and Monmouth Park and Borgata generated a little over $2 million.

FanDuel alone brought in $175 million and they’ve stated that “September exceeded expectations.” They’ve added, talking to iGamingBusiness.com, that consumer response continued to exceed our expectations in September as a consequence of FanDuel Sportsbook App launch…

…They’ve also said: “We look forward to continuing this growth by delivering the best experience for customers across the state.”

Total gaming revenue (sports betting plus all other forms of iGaming) was $281.7 million – that’s an almost 20% increase compared to $235.8 million in September 2017.

Tax Set to Rise As Well

But, as it often goes, with some good news, a bit of bad news must come along. At least for operators, in this case.

Starting in December, taxes on sports betting gross wins will increase by 1.25%. These added funds will be directed towards Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA).

This is due to the CDRA’s recently announced financial shortage of almost $22 million as a result of Atlantic’ City’s bankruptcy restructuring. AC casinos will be taxed at a rate of 9.75 percent, while mobile bets will be taxed 14.25 percent.

The sports betting tax legislation was signed last week by Governor, Phil Murphy. CDRA’s key mission is to attract visitors to Atlantic City and its critics say it failed to deliver in that respect…

…New Jersey’s Assemblyman, Vincenz Mazzeo, stated: “CDRA needs to seriously rethink and prioritize how it spends its money. We hope the state’s criticisms of its dealings with Atlantic City, along with its continuing oversight of city government, are the start of it finally taking responsibility for redeveloping what has been its gambling cash cow for 40 years.”

CDRA said it looked forward to “filling the void after a three-year hiatus” and to reigniting the DO AC brand into the consumer market to increase economic impact.