New Jersey's gambling market continues to demonstrate its robustness, evidenced by a significant financial uptick in June. The monthly revenue for June reached an impressive $491.0 million, which marked a 7.4% increase compared to $457.2 million from the same month last year. However, this figure was marginally lower by 3.7% from May’s $510.0 million, highlighting the dynamic and slightly unpredictable nature of the gambling sector.
Land-Based Casino Performance
The state's land-based casinos showcased modest growth, with overall revenue increasing by 1.0% to $244.1 million. Slot machines contributed heavily to these earnings, generating $184.0 million, a 0.6% rise from the previous year. Table games also experienced a 2.5% growth, bringing in $60.1 million, indicating a stable and thriving segment within the land-based operations.
Igaming’s Surge
In a contrasting but complementary manner, New Jersey’s igaming sector exhibited explosive growth. The revenue from igaming escalated by 25.2% year-on-year, attaining $186.8 million. Despite this surge, the igaming revenue still trailed the land-based earnings by $57.3 million. A significant portion of the igaming revenue came from "other authorized games," which alone generated $184.4 million, marking a 25.6% increase from the previous year. Peer-to-peer poker, on the other hand, saw a slight decline, earning $2.5 million, down 2.9%.
Several igaming operators reported remarkable year-on-year performance. The Golden Nugget led the online gambling charge with $51.5 million, reflecting a 23.3% increase. Resorts Digital followed suit with a substantial 36.4% increase, totaling $48.6 million. The Borgata also saw an upward trend, earning $42.9 million, which represented an 8.8% boost from the same period last year.
Fluctuations in Sports Betting
Contrarily, the sports betting sector faced challenges in June, with revenue falling by 9.5% year-on-year to $60.1 million. This figure was also down dramatically by 23.7% from May's earnings of $78.8 million. Nevertheless, the volume of placed bets painted a different picture. New Jersey residents wagered $748.4 million, a 26.6% increase from the previous year's $591.1 million. Online bets dominated, amounting to $719.0 million, while retail sportsbooks managed to secure $29.5 million in bets.
Among the noteworthy contributors to sports betting revenue, FanDuel stood out, generating $29.1 million. DraftKings followed with $14.4 million, and BetMGM reported $3.7 million. Bet365 and the emerging Fanatics Sportsbook also contributed, bringing in $3.4 million and $1.8 million, respectively.
Tax Contributions
The gambling industry’s contribution to state taxes remained significant. In June alone, the sector contributed $47.8 million. This was composed of $16.2 million from land-based casino gross revenue tax, $28.0 million from igaming internet gross revenue tax, and $3.6 million from internet sports wagering tax. Additional contributions came from retail sports wagering at casinos ($7,782) and racetrack sports wagering taxes amounting to $71,191.
Year-to-Date Performance
Looking at the broader picture, New Jersey's gambling market saw a total revenue of $3.06 billion for the first six months of the year, indicating a 12.2% increase from last year's $2.73 billion. Land-based casinos were responsible for $1.36 billion of this total. Slots contributed $998.3 million, while table games added $357.8 million for the same period.
Igaming continued its upward trajectory, generating $1.1 billion in the first half of the year, marking a 21.4% rise. Of this, $1.12 billion came from other authorized games, an increase of 21.8%, while peer-to-peer poker saw a slight drop, contributing $14.1 million.
Sports betting revenue for the first half of the year stood at $573.1 million, showing a robust 30.0% year-on-year growth. The total handle for sports betting exceeded $6.76 billion, with online sports betting accounting for $6.53 billion and retail locations contributing $231.0 million.
This data collectively underscores the resilience of New Jersey's gambling market, exhibiting robust growth in both the igaming and land-based casino sectors. However, the sports betting segment presents a more nuanced picture, combining increased betting activity with a simultaneous decline in revenue.