New Jersey sports betting handle tops $1B for 6th month in a row; in-person casino numbers below pre-pandemic

New Jersey’s sports betting market broke the $1 billion mark in handle for the sixth time in March. However, seven of the nine casinos in the state continued to lag behind their in-person gambling revenue levels in contrast with the pre-pandemic era. 

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported the state’s casinos and three horse tracks that take sports bets handled over $1.12 billion worth of wagers in March, driven by the March Madness college basketball tournament. 

However, out of the total, only $66.4 million was kept as sports betting revenue by the casinos and tracks after paying off winning bets, third-party partners and other expenses. 

The casinos and tracks made $423.6 million in gambling and sports betting revenue last month, up nearly 18% in a year-over-year comparison. However, in March 2021, Atlantic City’s casinos were still operating under state-imposed pandemic-related restrictions. In 2020, March saw a complete shutdown of its properties as the pandemic surged. 

This is why casino executives say 2019 is the accurate comparison to actually measure these results. Casinos won $382.9 million in total gambling during March, including sports betting and internet gambling, contrasted with 2019’s $273.7 million.

Casino executives also pointed out that sports betting and internet money do not allow casinos to keep much after partners and expenses are paid. That is why the main comparison should be made in terms of in-person gambling revenue, which was $216.6 million in March 2022, as set against March 2019’s $223.1 million. 

There are only two casinos, Hard Rock and Ocean, that are winning more now than they did before the pandemic. Hard Rock made $39.3 million from in-person gamblers in March, which represented a 60% rise from 2019. Ocean won $25.4 million, up 67% over the same period three years ago. 

As reported by the Associated Press, Hard Rock President Joe Lupo expressed: “The Atlantic City market was down 3% compared to 2019 with seven of nine properties down 17% collectively, with only Hard Rock and Ocean showing increases. While the market is still struggling to return from pre-pandemic volumes, we remain very encouraged as we look ahead to a great summer in Atlantic City”. 

Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, pointed out the dichotomy between total gambling revenue, which is increasing with the help of internet and sports betting, and in-person casino winnings, which by and large is not: “With such a strong start to the year, we have every reason, barring as yet unforeseen complications, to expect 2022 to set new near-term records for total annual gross gaming revenue. However, operators may still struggle to gain ground on pre-pandemic 2019 in terms of brick-and-mortar gaming revenues”. 

Atlantic City casinos have won nearly $1.1 billion in total revenue for the first three months of the year, but only $612 million of that was won from in-person gamblers. New Jersey’s internet gambling market was up nearly 24% in March from a year earlier, to $140.6 million.