Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show the state’s licensed sports betting operators generated wagering handle of $320.4m in February, a significant decline from January’s record $385m, while betting revenue fell to $12.7m from January’s $18.8m.
It should be noted that February had three less days than January in which to wager, and the NBA was out of action for a week for its annual all-star break. But February got a boost from the Super Bowl, which generated $35m in handle, although the books lost a combined $4.6m on the event. February also saw nearly $748k wagered on the Academy Awards, from which betting operators claimed over $182k in revenue, a healthy 24.4% hold.
Online and mobile betting continued their dominance over retail wagering in February. Online handle came in at nearly $258.9m, just under 81% of the month’s overall betting, roughly the same percentage as January’s result.
The FanDuel-powered betting operations at the Meadowlands racetrack claimed the lion’s share ($8.08m) of February’s betting revenue, up more than $1m from January’s result. The DraftKings-dominated betting operations of Resorts Digital Gaming had a far less enjoyable February, reporting revenue of $3.7m, barely half its January total.
Third-place went to the William Hill-powered Monmouth Park racetrack with $774k while Ocean Resort Casino ranked fourth with $746k. No other operator generated revenue over $200k, and three operators reported a net loss for the month, including a $756k shortfall at the Borgata and a $125k loss at the Golden Nugget.
The Meadowlands’ good February fortune was reflected at both retail ($1.5m) and online ($6.58m) operations. This bucked the market’s prevailing trend in February, in which retail bettors proved far better at picking winners than their online counterparts.
Monmouth Park reported online revenue of $1.27m while its retail sportsbook lost over $500k. Similarly, the Borgata’s retail operations were responsible for the bulk ($716k) of its red ink, the Nugget’s retail book’s $159k loss erased its modest online revenue of $34k and Ocean Resort lost over $280k on land while generating over $1m online.