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May 2019 will always be remembered as the month that New Jersey sports betting revenue eclipsed that of sports betting giant, Nevada. Gambling regulators in both states have just released the May numbers, and New Jersey sports betting generated a total of $15.5 million in revenue, while Nevada only generated $11.6 million.
Head of Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, Jay Kornegay, commented, “It was only a matter of time. States with higher population numbers will continue to surpass Nevada, and New Jersey has a population of 9 million, not counting (people from) surrounding states, versus Nevada’s 2.5 million.”
Still, the New Jersey gambling commission must be feeling pretty good about itself - Nevada has been operating legal sports betting for years, while New Jersey was only allowed to legalize it one year ago, when the Supreme court repealed PASPA.
However, if New Jersey really wants to claim the number one title, it still has some catching up to do. Since sports betting was legalized last year, New Jersey has taken in over $3 billion in sports bets, but Nevada has far surpassed it with $5.2 billion.
The Next Challenger
Pennsylvania legalized sports betting a few years ago but operators only started accepting wagers over the past few months. Just last week, in fact, 3 operators added mobile apps. With a growing industry and with nearly 4 million more people than New Jersey, Pennsylvania may present a threat to New Jersey’s growing stride. However, sports betting in the Keystone state hasn’t really taken off yet - in May, $2.9 million in revenue was generated, compared to New Jersey’s $15.5 million.
But with more and more states considering legalizing sports betting, it's not only Pennsylvania that will give New Jersey and Nevada a run for their money - plenty more are going to try to get a hefty piece of U.S. sports betting action. But really, it's not a competition - as long as revenue is being generated for state budgets, every state comes out a winner.
