New Jersey’s sportsbooks achieved strong monthly betting revenue of more than $320m in February despite a short month and a widely anticipated post-Super Bowl hiatus. In total, the state’s online and retail sportsbooks netted $12.7m in revenue on $320.4m in sports bets, down 16.8 per cent from the record figure of $385.3m wagered in January.
The February handle works out to $46 per adult resident of New Jersey, significantly larger than any other legal sports jurisdiction, other than Nevada.
“Because of the strength of New Jersey’s online product, in-play betting during the Super Bowl was significantly stronger in New Jersey than in other legal markets,” said Dustin Gouker, lead sports betting analyst for PlayNJ.com. “In addition, New Jersey’s sportsbooks saw significant action on other sports, particularly on college basketball and the NBA. It adds up to another very good month for New Jersey even after a somewhat disappointing Super Bowl handle.”
New Jersey’s online sportsbook brands accounted for $258.9m, or 80.8 percent, of total bets in January, according to official reporting released this week. The state’s retail sportsbooks made up the remaining 20.2 per cent. That compares to 79.2 per cent of total bets flowing through online sportsbooks in January.
New Jersey sports betting did not reach expectations for the Super Bowl, collecting nearly $35m in wagers for the game while paying out more than $39m. Nevada saw less interest in this year’s Super Bowl, too, with an eight per cent year-on-year decline in handle for the game, to $145m.
Interestingly, suggested PlayNJ, the Super Bowl represented a much smaller share of New Jersey’s handle, just 10.9 per cent, than in Nevada where February is a historically slow month for legal sports betting. The Super Bowl typically represents nearly 40 per cent of the Nevada’s February handle, including 36 per cent of sports bets made in Nevada in February 2018.
“New Jersey’s sports betting market is less driven by major events than in Nevada, and February’s numbers bear that out,” Gouker said. “The market’s consistency will eventually help New Jersey overtake Nevada as the largest legal sports betting market in the US, which is now more a question of when rather than if.”
FanDuel Sportsbook/Pointsbet overtook DraftKings Sportsbook as the state’s dominant online sportsbook with $6.59m in February gross revenue, up from $5.9m in January. DraftKings Sportsbook — which represents more than 95 per cent of Resorts’ online revenue — fueled Resorts’ $3.7m in February online gross revenue, down 46 per cent from $6.9m in January.
FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands continues to dominate the retail market. It posted $1.5m in February gross revenue, up from $1.2m in January.
“With its digital gains, FanDuel has asserted itself as the sports betting market’s top force,” Gouker said. “But with football now over, it will be interesting to see if a change in focus to college basketball and Major League Baseball alters the dynamic in the coming months.”