New Jersey residents are so enamored with their new sports betting opportunities that they are descending on local casinos in droves. The latest numbers released in the Garden State show that the volume of sports betting nearly doubled in September month-on-month, thanks to the start of the pro and college football seasons. In August 2018, $96 million was bet on sports in New Jersey, while only a month later, that number jumped to $184 million. These figures were released by the Division of Gaming Enforcement last week.
New Jersey was the pioneer state to keep challenging the Federal Government to do away with an almost nationwide ban on sports betting. The state finally won its case when the US Supreme Court decided in May that all 50 states could offer sports betting within their borders if they so wanted. As soon as the decision was made, New Jersey started offering sports betting in June, and since then, $336 million in sports bet have been made.
New Jersey has seen such a meteoric rise in its sports betting market, in such a short space of time, that it has been predicted that its industry could overtake Nevada’s well-established market by 2021. This prediction was made by the consulting group, Eilers and Krejcik Gaming, which believes that in just a few short years, Nevada will take in $410 million and New Jersey will beat that number at $442 million.
“We believe a combination of factors could push the nascent New Jersey sports betting market pas the more mature Nevada market as soon as 2021,” wrote the group in its report.
Other figures released in the DGE report on Friday included:
- Atlantic City’s nine casinos took in $272.2 million in revenue in September – an increase of 15.5% year on year.
- Internet gambling was up 26.3% in New Jersey, to $25.7 million.
- Football has accounted for over $94 million in bets since June.
- Baseball resulted in $119 million in bets since June.
- Parlay bets accounted for $36 million since June.
- $210 million out of the $336 million bet on sports were made online or using mobile devices, compared to at a casino or racetrack.
