Inside the Victory Sports Bar & Club at the Meadowlands Racetrack

New Jersey Sportsbooks Gross $3.8 M Revenue in July on $40.6 M Handle

The July revenue numbers are in for New Jersey sports betting and the total is $3.8 million gross revenue across the four operational sportsbooks on a total handle of $40.6 million during a sleepy month of mostly baseball betting. That’s a roughly 9.35 percent hold, which includes futures bets, as the report does not filter out futures pending (NJ is using a cash, not accrual method of accounting).

Operating fully in the month of July were the William Hill Race & Sports Book at Monmouth Park, a William Hill book at Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, the MGM-owned Borgata also in A.C., and the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack, which launched on July 14.

Those numbers are compared with a total handle of $16.4 million from June 14-30, in a report that indicated only half a month of wagering at Monmouth, Borgata and a few days at Ocean.

New Jersey Sports Betting July Revenue Figures Reflecting Only In-Person Retail Wagering So Far Show $40.6 Million Handle, $3.8 Million Hold

Here’s the book-by-book gross revenue breakdown for July:

• The Meadowlands: $1,357,477 (launched on July 14)
• Ocean Resort: $1,036,766
• Monmouth Park: $856,280
• Borgata: $562,830

To date since sports betting in N.J. began in mid-June, the total handle is $55.4 million across all properties with a $3.2 million hold on completed events. That’s a 5.8 percent hold  which is on par with what Nevada typically keeps. (Note: Bally’s actually launched on July 30 and generated $17,788 gross revenue).

A snapshot of the key facts and figures:

• Monthly tax revenue for New Jersey (July): $327,245
• Year-to-date sports wagering gross revenue: $7,289,808 (including futures/pending/unclaimed wagers)
• Year-to-date sports wagering handle: $55,436,058

As you can see form the chart above, baseball has been driving all of the action so far in what’s routinely a sluggish sports betting period without any football, basketball or hockey.

Harrah’s joined fellow Caesars Entertainment property Bally’s with an Aug, 1 launch. The Hard Rock and Golden Nugget Atlantic City will likely launch in the coming weeks as well. And the Resorts Casino sportsbook will hit the market (powered by SB Tech) soon with the ribbon-cutting scheduled for Wednesday, at 11 am.

There’s much speculation as to just how high the New Jersey handle will get during football season when all of these books are operational in both retail and mobile/online form. With just half a month live at the FanDuel Sportsbook, and only MLB betting on the docket, you can see the potential with the proximity to New York City.

It’s impossible to project at this point with much precision, but I’ll go ahead and venture a guess of $325 million handle in October when football and the MLB playoffs are in full swing and the NBA and NHL seasons have begun.

Coming in the August report (in September), we’ll see how much action the DraftKings Sportsbook has pulled in. To date, DraftKings, operating under the Resorts Casino license, is the only operation mobile/online book. It soft launched on Aug. 1 and then fully launched on Aug. 6 with a marketing campaign now off and running.

As of today, we are still waiting for mobile apps/online platforms from William Hill, MGM (PlayMGM) Caesars (Harrah’s, Bally’s and Caesars) and FanDuel Sportsbook. It is unclear if regulatory approvals or simply continued testing/modification of software, or an abundance of caution, is causing a delay.

Football is coming.