New Jersey’s Sports Betting Handle Hits Another New High. Will This Trend Continue?
A lot has changed in New Jersey since the Supreme Court ruled in its favor and overturned PASPA on May 14th, 2018. Just one month after the landmark decision, Julius Erving entered the Borgata Race and placed a bet on the Philadelphia Eagles to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. At about the same time, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy went to New Jersey’s only other sportsbook, Monmouth Park Racetrack, and made a couple of bets of his own. Just like that, sports betting in the Garden State finally became a reality.
DraftKings Sportsbook Opens
Sports betting in New Jersey took a giant leap forward on August 1st when DraftKings Sportsbook launched their online platform. Naturally, other operators quickly followed suit and, by the end of September, the handle generated by online sports betting had surpassed that of the retail outlets. Over $100 million worth of online sports bets were accepted by New Jersey sportsbooks in September as opposed to the $79 million in wagers that were taken in at brick-and-mortar establishments.
Online Bets v Retail Bets
The gap between handles at land-based and online sportsbooks grew even wider in October. Over $174 million worth of bets were placed online while around $86 million was taken in at retail outlets. This also translated into $1,158,853 in tax money generated by online betting in New Jersey compared to the $255,852 that retail outlets accounted for. Possibly fueled by the football and basketball seasons being in full swing, the numbers continued to increase throughout November. New Jersey’s retail sportsbooks saw over $92 million in bets while online sports betting accounted for a whopping $238, 615,611 handle. This means that a little over 72% of all sports bets that were placed in New Jersey were done online.
New Jersey has certainly benefited by being so quick and well prepared to embrace online sports betting. Nearly $4 million in much-needed tax money was generated by New Jersey’s sportsbooks through October and November. Legalized sports gambling in the Garden State has also created a plethora of new jobs and attracted visitors from neighboring states. There are a lot of reasons to believe that sports betting will continue to be a success in New Jersey but there are also plenty of reasons to suspect that the explosive growth of New Jersey’s sports betting market will soon subside.
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to New Jersey’s rising sports betting handle. It is quite obvious that the introduction of online wagering and mobile betting apps has had an enormous impact. Another thing to consider is that the handle at New Jersey’s sportsbooks grew significantly when the football season commenced. The end of the NFL and NCAA football seasons will likely affect the bottom line. Can basketball, hockey, and other major sports fill the void?
American Sports Betting States
Let’s not forget that the impending legalization of online sports betting in Pennsylvania is bound to affect New Jersey’s profits. What if New York and other neighboring states do the same thing? Representatives from New York have already acknowledged that their state is losing a great deal of revenue to New Jersey and it seems like it’s just a matter of time before New York takes a slice of the pie. Sports betting in New Jersey will continue to generate huge profits but the rapid growth that it has enjoyed over the past few months is bound to level off at some point. The next few months will be very revealing.
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