New Jersey‘s sportsbooks have captured another record-breaking month of sports betting revenue, capitalizing on an unprecedented confluence of major US sports to generate nearly $750m in September. Taking that total into account, the Garden State’s handle year-to-date has surpassed the first nine months of 2019.
Dustin Gouker, lead analyst at PlayNJ described it as a remarkable trajectory considering major sports were shut down for months. He said: “September was a once-in-a-lifetime moment on the sports calendar when all four major US sports were playing meaningful games all at once, which was obviously a boon for sportsbooks.
“The growth seen over the last two months will likely level off once the sports schedule returns to normal. But it’s clear New Jersey’s sports betting industry is setting a new floor.”
Wagers at New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks soared to $748.6m in September, up 68% from $445.6m in September 2019 and easily surpassing the all-jurisdiction record of $668m set by New Jersey just last month. They have now collected $3.3bn in bets through the first nine months of 2020, up from $2.96bn through the corresponding months in 2019.
September’s bets produced $45.1m in gross operator revenue, up 14.1% from $37.9m year-on-year. Those revenues yielded $5.6m in state taxes. Football produced $159.5m in bets, but “other” sports, a classification that includes hockey, led with $208.3m.
“Bringing all the major sports together at once enabled New Jersey to show off its unique ability to attract significant action on a wide variety of sports,” Gouker added. “New Jersey is less event-driven and football commands a smaller share of the overall handle than Nevada, which is an obvious benefit under the current circumstances.”
Online bets accounted for 90.7%, or $678.7m, of September’s handle, up from 90.1% in August. FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet topped the market with $25.1m in gross revenue, up from $17.6m in August.
Struggling retail sportsbooks showed modest improvement, generating $69.8m in bets, up from $66m in August. FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands once again topped retail books with $3.1m in revenue.
“September’s results hint at a $1bn month someday soon, which would’ve been impossible to fathom two years ago,” said Eric Ramsey, analyst for PlayNJ.com. “As we can see with Unibet’s recent launch, online sportsbooks will continue to be where we see growth and where operators will continue to invest.”
