According to data released to the public Monday, New Jersey became the first sports betting industry to take in over $1 billion worth of bets in one month. The billion-dollar betting month came in September, the start of the NFL regular season.
Atlantic City’s nine casinos and the three racetracks in the state that accept sports bets took in $1.01 billion combined, according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Out of the $1.01 billion, also known as the “handle,” the casinos and race tracks kept $82 million, after payouts for the winning bets were distributed and other expenses were handled.
Half of the total came from the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford.
Senior vice president Casey Clark of the American Gaming Association — the casino industry’s national trade group — commented on the record-setting month, saying:
“New Jersey has always been a strong gaming market. Crossing the $1 billion handle mark in September is an impressive indicator of the appetite of New Jerseyans and Americans across the country who have embraced legal, regulated sports betting.”
In 2018, the state won a U.S. Supreme Court case which made it possible for all states to begin allowing legal sports betting and New Jersey has been near the top since.
This record breaks New Jersey’s previous mark of $996 million wagered on sports, which came in December 2020.
“New Jersey reaped the benefit of being an early adopter of sports betting,” Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University said. “By embracing mobile sports books and making sports betting more accessible than even Nevada, New Jersey has now achieved an important milestone of more than $1 billion wagered on sports in a single month.”
In-person betting also made a notable increase, up over 30% to $248.5 million. Internet gambling saw an increase of almost 40% to $122.5 million.
