New Jersey Online Gambling and Sports Betting Soar in January 2021
Published February 23, 2021 by Elana K
In January 2021, New Jersey online gambling revenue reached over $103 million and sports betting revenue reached over $82 million.
Since New Jersey legalized online gambling in 2013 and sports betting in 2018, it has become a leader in gambling in the United States. Its online options for casino games, poker, and sports betting proved especially crucial during the stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when brick-and-mortar casinos and racetracks were shut down. While the state set several records in 2020, January 2021 has been its most fruitful month yet.
New Jersey Online Gambling
According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Garden State online gambling operators generated a combined revenue of $103 million in January 2021, the first time the market broke the $100 million mark in one month. Online gambling in January 2021 was 88.4% higher than in January 2020 and generated nearly $4 million more than December 2020.
As usual, the online casino vertical contributed the lion’s share to the state’s overall gambling intake, generating $101 million. Online poker brought in $2.75 million, nearly 50% more than January 2020.
Market Leaders
The Golden Nugget posted $31.2 million in revenue in January 2021, more than any other casino operator. Borgata, which offers online gambling and poker, came in a close second with $28.7 million and a year-on-year improvement of a whopping 176.8%.
Resorts Digital Gaming came in third in the New Jersey online gambling market with $22.8 million in revenue, of which approximately $840 thousand came from online poker. Caesars Interactive Entertainment came in fourth with $7.4 million. Although it’s a far cry from the top 3 casinos, it did generate the most revenue in online poker: $975 thousand. The Tropicana rounded out the top 5 with a little over $7 million.
New Jersey Sports Betting: January 2021
New Jersey had a great month in sports betting too. Operators generated $82.6 million in revenue, a 54.3% year-on-year increase. The handle also shot up by 77.5% to reach $958.7 million.
Over 90% of New Jersey’s sports bets were placed online and on mobile (as opposed to in-person) while parlay bets made up more than half of January's total sports betting revenue.
Basketball was the most bet-on sport, generating $320 million in handle and $15.35 million in revenue. Football was second with $201 million in handle and revenue of $12.5 million. (In February, football is likely to be first on the list due to the Super Bowl.)
Market Leaders
The Meadowlands/FanDuel partnership generated $46.8 million, more than any other sports betting operator. Resorts/DraftKings generated a distant $15.7 million and Borgata/BetMGM brought in nearly $8.5 million. Ocean Casino Resort generated $4.5 million while Monmouth Park/William Hill rounded out the list with $3.7 million in revenue.
