With its state-by-state way of doing things, the USA offers one of the most fractured gaming landscapes in the world. As a quick example, while the Northeast is (mostly) friendly to sports betting, California just spent hundreds of millions arguing about whether to allow the hobby to settle in the state, only to conclude in November 2022 that, no, it can’t. California is considered the only thing standing between the US and country-wide adoption.
Table Games
While all that is going on in the Golden State, New Jersey quietly posted its best July in ten years for gambling revenue. On a year-by-year basis, income increased by 5.3% over the same month last year. That means that the casino and sports betting industry in New Jersey earned a total of $3.23 billion in the summer month, which is an increase of 11% over 2022’s $2.91 billion.
New Jersey is occupied by nine physical casinos are well as a ballooning online gaming market. The NJ real-money casino Playstar is one of the contributors to the latter sector, offering slots and table games to players located within the Garden State. Playstar attributes the popularity of online gaming to its safe and well-regulated environment under the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Despite the good news, mixed messages are coming out of New Jersey, as physical, in-person commerce continues to decline in the face of competition from web and mobile gaming. Table games, in particular, took a 13% hit over the figures for July 2022, declining from a total win of $83.1 million to $72.2 million in 2023. This represents the opposite performance to slots, which brought in 1% more money this year, climbing to $217.8 million overall.
Atlantic City
Worryingly, with the exception of one record-breaking casino, the biggest slump in fortunes was experienced at some of Atlantic City’s most famous outlets. All those affected do have online properties but it nevertheless raises a question about the future of the brick-and-mortar casino. An earlier report from the Associated Press notes that New Jersey’s gaming halls are still operating below pre-2020 levels, even now.
Alongside its impressive tourism industry, which includes plenty of things to do even for non-gamblers, sports betting continues to be a boon to New Jersey’s coffers. While the inactive market in California has been described as the “holy grail” of sports wagering states, NJ seems to be living at least part of that dream. New Jersey earned $61 million year-on-year to July 2023, a boost of 35.6%. This means that the state has the second-largest sportsbook income in the US, behind New York.
Once again, the online market took the lion’s share of earnings. Just $25.4 million passed through the hands of offline sportsbooks, compared to $561.6 million on the internet. Even though the industry is still coasting below the figures from the last decade, retail sportsbooks are starting to look like an optional accessory to internet wagering. It’s worth noting that in-person betting also fell in April 2023.
Overall, things are booming for New Jersey’s casino industry – but keep an eye on anything rooted to the ground.
