Key Points
- New Jersey breaks its own record for sports betting handle
- Over $1.26 billion taken in sports bets in September 2023
- Sports betting revenues also up in the Garden State
New Jersey’s online sportsbooks have managed to break their own record for sports betting handle. According to figures recently released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, September saw the state’s betting brands take in over $1.26 billion in sports bets which is a dramatic improvement compared to the same time last year.
The Garden State had been at the forefront of sports betting in the US, but the arrival of
legal sports betting in New York
had threatened to steal New Jersey’s thunder. However, it looks like New Jersey’s sportsbooks have managed to shake off the threat and are once again making good business in the Garden State.
Over $1.26 billion bets taken in NJ in September
It was a spectacular September for
New Jersey’s online sportsbooks
as over $1.26 billion in sports bets was taken. This set a new record for the sports betting handle for the Garden State and it is a marked improvement compared to what was happening the same time last year.
This is because the number of bets taken in New Jersey was up 50% compared to 2022, and it also marked the third consecutive month that there had been year-on-year betting handle gains in the Garden State.
Prior to this upturn, there had been one solid year of declining handle as New Jersey struggled to adapt to the arrival of neighboring state, New York, in the sports betting market. The period between August 2022 and February 2023 was particularly dark with a drop of nearly 20% over the course of the NFL season.
Boosted revenues for New Jersey’s sportsbooks
The increase in betting handle also brought about improved revenues for online sportsbooks in New Jersey in September. The total sports betting revenue for the month topped $111.1 million and this marks the second highest monthly total in the state. The previous record for revenues was the $114.8 million made in November 2021.
What’s truly impressive is the fact that last month’s total was up over 13% compared to September 2022. Despite this, sportsbooks in New Jersey actually posted a relatively low win rate of just 8.5% for the month.
DraftKings tops the NJ betting revenue charts
It’s been a typically competitive month for the many sportsbooks currently operating within New Jersey. Top of the pile was the DraftKings and Resorts betting app which recorded just shy of $50 million in revenues in September. This was a 120% improvement over the same month last year, and it marked the second consecutive month that the brand had claimed the top spot in the Garden State.
Close behind was FanDuel which has partnered up with PointsBet, Superbook and the Meadowlands racetrack. While this partnership’s revenue was down 25% compared to the same time last year, it still managed to post a healthy $32 million in sports betting revenues.
Further afield it was a good month for many up-and-coming betting brands. In particular, Bet365, Unibet and Hard Rock all managed to take twice their monthly revenues for September.
The previous month, the trio had only managed to record $2.1 million in revenues, but had smashed that figure this September with a $4.8 million taken in sports betting revenues. This is largely due to the fact that Hard Rock unveiled its new sports betting and casino gaming app in New Jersey earlier this summer, but Bet365 has also been significantly boosting its profile in the US.
Online sports betting was launched in New Jersey in June 2018 and the trailblazing state set the template for other states to follow in terms of how to regulate legal betting. There are now 16 sportsbooks now available in the Garden State and many more are expected to join the fray. These include BallyBet and Fanatics which is already making a big impression in other states, while ESPN Bet is also expected to launch in New Jersey at some point in the coming months.
Conclusion – Things are looking up in New Jersey
The recently released figures from the NJDGE will have been warmly received by online sportsbooks in the Garden State. They show that sports betting is back to its best, and that New Jersey can happily exist in its own right despite the sheer scale of the nascent betting scene over the border in New York.
In particular it is the rise of newer brands such as Bet365 and Unibet that display just what a fertile sports betting scene New Jersey has. All of this shows that sports betting in New Jersey is back to its best.
