iGaming Steady In New Jersey As Sports Betting Revenue Remains Volatile

The January 2025 revenue figures released on Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement underscored a long-term trend in the state’s gaming industry: oBth the Atlantic City casinos and the online casino operators are steady cash cows, while sportsbook numbers vary wildly from month-to-month.

Brick-and-mortar casino operations at the nine properties in Atlantic City took in $210.1 million in revenue in January, after reporting $200 million to $300 million in every single month in 2024. In fact, other than the usual seasonal spikes in July ($272.3 million) and August ($294 million) at the oceanside city, all of the other months produced revenue figures of $205 million to $245 million.

The results are similar with iGaming, with operators reporting a typical $221.6 million in January. Those online casino operators reported revenue between $180 million and $199 million in the first eight months in 2024 before reaching the $200 million milestone for the first time in September ($208.1 million). The high-water mark remains December’s $228 million, but it doesn’t take an actuary to estimate that monthly iGaming revenues are likely to fluctuate between $200 million and $250 million in the next 11 months of 2025.

The consistency in each gaming industry is helpful to the state’s professional budget analysts, as they know they can have confidence in what sort of annual tax revenue they can expect. Those figures were $358.3 million from iGaming in 2024, and $180.1 million from Atlantic City’s casinos. Based on each trend, it appears likely that the iGaming tax collection will hover around $400 million, while the brick-and-mortar casino tax contribution should be just shy of $200 million.

But sportsbook operators — and thus tax revenues — are subject to exterior forces beyond their control, such as the random bounce of oblong shaped balls, as the gambling community may perform terribly one month and quite well the next. For instance, a record $170.8 million in sports betting revenue in January 2024 — nearly on par with the casinos and their online casino cousins — dipped to a meager $67.6 million the following month.

April, September, and November produced between $106 million and $120 million in revenue, but overall six of the 12 months did not clear more than $80 million.

So the $122.2 million in sportsbook revenue last month — higher than any figure in the previous 11 months — offers no guarantee at all of an upward trend for tax dollars in 2025. Lawmakers in the seven states, including New Jersey, that have legalized online casino gaming can pencil in a reliable tax projection for a given year, while the 32 states that only offer sports betting cannot do the same.

The sportsbooks generated $138.3 million in tax revenue last year — well short of that generated by casinos, and not nearly half of what iGaming operators paid the state. More than half of the sports betting revenue last year was produced by the Meadowlands Racetrack’s partners, the anchor being FanDuel Sportsbook. Another one-quarter was generated by Resorts’ partners including DraftKings, with the other casinos and Monmouth Park’s partners comprising the rest of the revenue.

Last month, the Meadowlands team turned over $6.9 million in tax dollars, while Resorts and its partners produced a relatively strong $4.9 million contribution out of the $15.4 million total.

Online casino leaders in January

The state Division of Gaming Enforcement recently changed its monthly reporting to break down exactly what each iGaming partner produces in revenue.

Daily fantasy sports pioneers DraftKings ($49.7 million) and FanDuel ($44.1 million) unsurprisingly lapped the field, while BetMGM ($28.8 million) and Borgata ($21.9 million) finished a distant third and fourth. The Caesars Palace, Hard Rock, and Golden Nugget brands checked in behind them at $10 million to $15 million.

The late-arriving ESPN Bet’s casino platform has a long way to go, placing 13th last month with just $2.3 million in revenue to finish just behind the less recognizable Playstar brand. The most dismal number of nearly two dozen sites was posted by Hard Rock partner bet365, the only iGaming operator to lose money with a deficit of nearly $1 million.

The state is now down to 15 mobile sportsbooks, and five of them — Caesars, BetParx, BallyBet, Sporttrade, and newcomer Prime—- each produced under $600,000 in revenue last month. A big winner compared to January 2024 was Hard Rock Bet, which nearly doubled its fortunes to $1.9 million last month to claim eighth place. Fanatics, meanwhile, has been in the sportsbook business in New Jersey less than a year but already settled in at fourth last month at $6.8 million in revenue.

The division also breaks down retail casino revenue per month, with slot machines producing $145.4 million last month and table games providing the other $64.6 million. Six casinos took in $7 million to $13 million from slots in January, trailing market leaders Borgata ($40.2 million), Hard Rock ($25.6 million), and Ocean ($21.5 million). Those same three operators also dominated the table game revenue rankings.

As for the Super Bowl, the division’s preliminary data announced earlier this week shows $168.7 million having been wagered in the state with the sportsbooks holding a robust $25.2 million of that figure as its revenue.

The handle was up almost 20% over the previous Super Bowl, and quiet games by fan favorites Saquon Barkley of Philadelphia and Travis Kelce of Kansas City no doubt contributed nicely to the profit margin.