Vegas is feeling the heat when it comes to sports betting and it’s coming from way east via New Jersey.
Sportsbooks in The Garden State recorded $23.96 million in gross revenue and $183.94 million in wagers in September, according to an official announcement made by New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement on Friday.
Those numbers mark a whopping 161-percent jump in gross revenue and a 92.3-percent increase in wagers from the sportsbook totals of $9.1 million in gross revenue on $95.6 million in wagers from August.
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With growth like this, New Jersey is not only already throwing rocks at Vegas’s throne for sports gambling — it might overtake it, altogether.
“After seeing September, it is a very real possibility that New Jersey could surpass Nevada as the country’s largest sports betting market by the end of the year,” Dustin Gouker, the lead sports betting analyst for PlayNJ.com, said as part of the website’s press release about the huge announcement. “With New Jersey’s population base, it is hard to see where the ceiling is right now. Even when Pennsylvania launches sports betting, New Jersey should continue its upward swing.”
The growth of sports betting in New Jersey for September was aided by the kick off to the 2018 NFL season. Now, just imagine how those numbers will look for October, as the 2018-19 NBA season tips off on Tuesday (Oct. 16), while the NFL season continues and the MLB playoffs wrap up.
That being said, PlayNJ.com analysts believe $500 million-plus in annual sports betting revenue is doable for Jersey moving forward.
“The sharp growth in September was not unexpected,” Gouker said. “But as powerful as September’s numbers were, there is still so much more room for growth. As more online and land-based sportsbooks hit the market, and customers become more familiar with the products, wagering will rapidly expand.”
The $183.94 million in sports wagers for September were comprised of $104.9 million coming from New Jersey’s eight online sportsbooks, while the state’s physical sportsbooks accounted for $79.1 million.
“We knew online sports betting would grow at a higher rate and narrow that gap over time,” Gouker said, “but this surpassed our expectations.”
And probably will continue to do so.
