New Jersey's gambling market demonstrated strong resilience and potential in June, marking a 7.4% overall growth compared to the previous year. Combined earnings from land-based casinos, igaming, and sports betting reached a robust $491.0 million, up from $457.2 million the same month last year. However, this figure fell slightly behind May's impressive $510.0 million, indicating a 3.7% dip.
Land-Based Casinos Show Steady Gains
Revenue from land-based casinos showed a modest yet positive 1.0% increase, totaling $244.1 million. Slot machines contributed significantly to this figure, generating $184.0 million, which reflects a 0.6% rise. Table games experienced a slightly higher growth rate, increasing by 2.5% to reach $60.1 million.
Igaming Continues to Surge
The igaming sector exhibited exceptional performance with a 25.2% year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $186.8 million. Despite this impressive growth, igaming revenue still trailed the land-based casino sector by $57.3 million. Within the igaming umbrella, "other authorized games" contributed $184.4 million, a remarkable 25.6% increase. In contrast, peer-to-peer poker faced a 2.9% decline, falling to $2.5 million.
Among individual operators, Golden Nugget led the pack with $51.5 million in igaming revenue, reflecting a 23.3% increase from the previous year. Resorts Digital showed the highest year-on-year growth, with a 36.4% increase to $48.6 million. The Borgata reported $42.9 million, marking an 8.8% increase from last year's figures.
Sports Betting Faces Challenges
Sports betting, while showing growth in certain areas, faced some challenges in June. Revenue declined by 9.5% year-on-year to $60.1 million, and it also dropped 23.7% from May's $78.8 million. Despite these drops, New Jersey residents placed a total of $748.4 million in bets, a significant 26.6% increase from the previous year's $591.1 million. Online bets dominated the market, amounting to $719.0 million, while retail sportsbooks took in $29.5 million in bets.
On the revenue front, FanDuel led with $29.1 million, followed by DraftKings with $14.4 million. BetMGM and Bet365 reported $3.7 million and $3.4 million in revenue, respectively. Fanatics Sportsbook made a noteworthy contribution with $1.8 million in revenue.
Significant Tax Contributions
New Jersey's gambling industry made substantial tax contributions in June, totaling $47.8 million. This included $16.2 million from the land-based casino gross revenue tax, $28.0 million from the igaming internet gross revenue tax, and $3.6 million from the internet sports wagering tax. Additionally, retail sports wagering from casinos contributed $7,782, while racetracks paid $71,191 in sports wagering taxes.
First Half of the Year Performance
Looking at the broader picture, the total market revenue for the first six months of the year reached an impressive $3.06 billion, a solid 12.2% rise from last year's $2.73 billion. Land-based casinos contributed $1.36 billion to this total, with slot machines generating $998.3 million and table games adding $357.8 million in revenue.
Igaming revenue for the first half of the year was $1.1 billion, up 21.4% from the previous year. "Other authorized games" contributed $1.12 billion, showing a 21.8% increase. Conversely, peer-to-peer poker continued its downward trend with a 4.2% decline, totaling $14.1 million for the first six months.
Sports betting revenue for the first half of the year was $573.1 million, showing a healthy 30.0% year-on-year increase. The year-to-date handle for sports betting surpassed $6.76 billion, with online sports betting contributing $6.53 billion and retail locations adding $231.0 million.
Overall, the gambling market in New Jersey has shown resilience, especially with significant growth in the igaming and land-based casino sectors. Despite facing challenges in the sports betting segment, the market's performance remains strong, underpinned by solid gains and notable tax contributions.