New Jersey sets US sports betting monthly record
New Jersey gamblers set a national record for the most cash bet on sports in a single month, plunking down nearly $668 million in August on activities like resurgent football, basketball and hockey seasons that had been derailed by coronavirus epidemic, figures published Monday revealed.
That shattered the previous record set at Nevada in November 2019 of $614 million. The extra capital helped to cushion the blow of months of losses suffered by New Jersey s casinos and two racetracks providing sports betting, allowing them to start financially rebounding.
Gaming enforcement's state division reports the casinos and tracks jointly raised $326.3 million in August from gamblers. The number was promising for the casinos because it came in a month where they were limited to running at 25% capacity, and it also included a doubling in internet gaming sales relative to a year earlier.
All told, casinos and tracks saw their sales fall as low as 7.5% compared to august 2019, when they went full-blast and no pandemic happened.
"Recovery is underway, even with continued travel advisories that have limited out-of-state trips," said james plousis, chair of the New Jersey casino management board. "Atlantic city's casino win was approximately 70 percent of last august's good results, but the months are not equally comparable due to room, facilities and entertainment constraints."
He also noted that indoor dining was permitted to resume on September 4, a change that will hopefully be reflected in the revenue report next month. The best news was a New Jersey sports betting industry record-setting success.
The $668 million wagered on sports in August, in addition to surpassing Nevada's previous peak, smashed the previous New Jersey mark of $562 million set in november 2019. The casinos and tracks posted $39.5 million in income on sports betting in August, after paying off winning bets. It was this year's first regular month of baseball and gamblers still had playoffs for hockey and basketball to bet on.
Online gaming has raised $87.7 million, more than twice as much as it had a year ago. Only two casinos, ocean resort and golden nugget, managed to report sales improvements year-over-year. Ocean increased by 3.7% to $26.6 million, while golden nugget grew by 2.5% to $37 million.
"Our year-over-year rise in gaming sales is a testament to the momentum ocean generated before closure, which resumed immediately upon reopening in July," said Terry Glebocki, Ocean's CEO, in a tweet. "We are satisfied with our results in august amid a less favorable schedule, continued constraints on occupancy and lack of indoor dining until early september."
Caesars had the highest drop, down 31.4% to $21.2 million, followed closely by his sister property Harrah s, down exactly the same 31.3% to $21.4 million. resorts declined 28.8% to $13.8 million; Tropicana dropped 26.5% to $26.5 million; Bally's fell down 21.3% to $15.2
"We are delighted with the performance of our first two months after reopening, as our strengths start with Hard Rock's industry leading 'safe & sound protocols, providing guests with nice, clean fun in our destination," said Hard Rock president Joe Lupo in a statement.
In August two internet-only companies were doing well. Resorts digital grew by more than 97% to $27.9 million and Caesars virtual NJ grew by nearly 87% to $9.2 million. Of the racetracks, the meadowlands in East Rutherford, just outside New York city, accounted for $21.1 million in sports betting income relative to $11.8 million a year ago, and Monmouth Park in Oceanport outside jersey shore for $1.8 million compared to $2 million a year previously.
