A landmark Supreme Court ruling this past May, calling a federal ban on sports gambling unconstitutional, paved the way for New Jersey to legalize sports gambling in June.
Well, early numbers are in and the Garden State should be extremely excited. According to analysts at PlayNJ.com, New Jersey’s sportsbooks generated $3.8 million in gross revenue via $40.7 million in July wagers. July marked the first full month of legalized sports betting for New Jersey. To put those metrics in perspective, each respective number saw an increase from the $3.5 million in gross revenue earned on the $16.4 million in wagers from June.
“Considering the rate at which sportsbooks are opening in New Jersey, it is certainly not surprising to see a steep increase in revenue and the amount of money wagered,” Dustin Gouker, PlayNJ.com’s lead sports betting analyst, said in a press release statement. “The underlying data points are impressive, though. And it’s important to remember that this is the industry’s infancy. A mature, fully established New Jersey sports betting market could field billions of dollars in annual wagers.”
As Gouker noted, a few key sportsbook openings helped drive the increase from June to July, especially the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack opening on July 14. That gave and will continue to provide easy access to legalized sports betting for New York City.
In addition, Caesar’s Entertainment opened a sportsbook at Bally’s Atlantic City on July 30 and at Harrah’s Atlantic City two days later. The full effect of those openings should be felt in revenue and wager totals for this month.
“Revenue growth slowed at the existing books, but we expect it to hasten once football begins later this month,” Gouker continued. “August will be fun to watch, as it will give us our first full month-over-month comparisons.”
Jersey’s legal online sports gambling won big in July, too, generating a record $25.9 million in gross revenue, which was up from the $22.7 million in June. According to PlayNJ.com, legal sports betting is on pace to destroy the $245.6 million annual revenue total set last year.
And more online sportsbooks expected should help towards that goal.
“By the end of the year, New Jersey should have perhaps as many as a dozen online sportsbooks,” Gouker added. “With football season coming soon, we expect the pace of conventional and online sportsbooks entering the market to only increase.”
