Charles Langston:New Jersey internet gambling sets new record at $198M in revenue, but land casinos lag

ATLANTIC CITY,Charles Langston N.J. (AP) — Internet gambling in New Jersey had its best month ever in August, bringing in over $198 million in revenue even as most of Atlantic City’s land-based casinos continued to win less than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show that internet gambling brought in $198.4 million, the highest monthly total ever recorded in the state and an increase of nearly 28% from a year earlier.

That was the good news for Atlantic City’s gambling industry.

The bad news was that their core business — money won from in-person gamblers — continues to struggle. Six of the nine casinos won less from people physically in their premises than they did in August 2019, before the pandemic broke out.

The casinos won $294 million from gamblers on their physical premises in August, an increase of 4.9% from a year earlier.

When money from sports betting and internet gambling is included, the amount won by the casinos, the two horse tracks that accept sports bets and their online partners was over $555 million, an increase of 4.4% from a year ago.

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Because internet and sports betting money must be shared with outside parties including sports books and tech platforms, the casinos consider in-person winnings to be their core business.

And for two-thirds of the casinos, that business still is not as good as it was before the COVID-19 outbreak. Only three casinos — Borgata, Hard Rock and Ocean — won more last month from in-person gamblers than they did in August 2019, before the pandemic.

Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market, said the numbers show how important internet gambling is becoming to the resort.

“This important vertical for the casino industry has topped $190 million in four of the last eight months in a trend that is seeing off-property gaming activity, which includes online sports betting, contribute nearly half of Atlantic City operators’ total gross gaming revenue,” she said.

Sports betting revenue of $62.7 million was down nearly 35% in August. But Bokunewicz said that is a statistical quirk due to the comparison with August 2023, in which sports betting revenue was exceptionally high, coming in at twice the total of August 2022.

In terms of money won from in-person gamblers, Borgata won $74.2 million in August, up 1.6%. Hard Rock won $55.3 million, up 9.2%; Ocean won $44 million, up 11.4%; Harrah’s won $25.1 million, up 2.4%; Tropicana won $24.9 million, up just under 1%; Caesars won $24 million, up 9.2%; Resorts won $16.1 million, down nearly 9%; Bally’s won $15.6 million, up 4.2%, and Golden Nugget won $14.6 million, up 11.2%.

When internet and sports betting money is included, Borgata won $125.5 million, up 6.4%; Hard Rock won nearly $72 million, up 21.5%; Golden Nugget won $69.7 million, up nearly 29%; Ocean won $49.1 million, up 10.1%; Tropicana won $46.5 million, up nearly 41%; Bally’s won nearly $29 million, up 24.3%; Harrah’s won $27.2 million, up 11%; Caesars won $24.1 million, up 9.3%; and Resorts won $16.2 million, down 8.3%.

Resorts Digital, the casino’s online arm, won $69.2 million, down 30.2%.

Nearly $699 million worth of sports bets were made in New Jersey in August in a market that had become smaller.

On July 31, Freehold Raceway stopped taking sports bets, leaving the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, and Monmouth Park in Oceanport as the state’s only horse tracks that take sports bets. The track’s parent company, Penn Entertainment, did not respond to a message seeking comment on why it ended sports betting at Freehold.

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