Historically, New Jersey online casino revenue in November is typically flat when compared with October.
After another impressive showing in October where online gambling in NJ combined for a record $85.58 in revenue, November's revenue numbers once again hit the $80-million mark as revealed by the.
Well, that’s not the case this year.
NJ online casinos earned $47,645,412 with online poker bringing in another $1,492,494. That means it was another record-setting month in the Garden State.
The total online gambling revenue of $49,137,906 is 12.3% above October’s revenue and puts the online casino industry within reach of hit another big milestone: $50 million in revenue. While that is impressive, it is the 82.3%increase over the same period last year that is making headlines.
Here’s a look at the top-line numbers.
Revenue / ∆ Month Over Month / ∆ Year Over Year:
- Total: $49.1 million / +12.3% / +82.37%
- Online casinos: $47.6 million / +13.0% / +87.7%
- Online poker: $1.5 million / -5.98% / -4.43%
November 2019 NJ online casino highlights
There is a lot to unpack in this month’s revenue report, including these highlights:
- NJ online casino revenue sets a new record and records the highest year-over-over increase since its launch.
- Online poker in NJ posted its third-largest decrease of the year when compared with the previous month.
- Four NJ casino operators posted record revenue for the month.
- Golden Nugget not only continues to dominate the market, but it is also gaining market share.
Contributing to the record numbers are the four casinos that posted revenue records:
Ocean Casino is the surprise name on that list. However, its revenue is still in the mid-six figures, and it has a long way to go before catching up to the pack.
It is worth noting, the monthly year-over-year increase percentage for overall casino revenue has not fallen below 30% since October 2018. In fact, for 2019, only one month fell below 50%.
Even so, an 82% increase is pretty remarkable for a time of year that is typically slower than the rest. The next largest year-over-year increase came last month at 69%.
November’s month-over-month increase is also a record by a lot.
When comparing November to October, here are the increases by year:
- 2019: 8.68%
- 2018: 0.71%
- 2017: 0.21%
- 2016: 3.02%
- 2015: 2.79%
- 2014: -14.15%
Then there is poker.
Poker might be struggling more than usual with the launch of PokerStars in Pennsylvania.
PokerStars ran its popular Championship of Online Poker (PACOOP) during the first two weeks of December. It would not be surprising for December’s revenue report to also show a significant decline.
AC online casino market share
What is not a surprise is Golden Nugget’s place at the top of the podium. It is holding on strong to first place, and it is hard to imagine what it will take to overcome its lead.
At the end of 2018, Golden Nugget commanded 35.09% of the market. At the end of November 2019, Golden Nugget holds a 38.5% market share, its largest share percentage to date.
A closer look at New Jersey online gambling
There wasn’t any movement among AC casinos in the month of November. Golden Nugget remains on top, followed by Resorts and Borgata.
Resorts produced the largest year-over-year growth (207.55%), thanks in part to DraftKings Casino.
As expected, the bottom three also remained the same:
Tropicana is the only casino posting a month-over-month decline (-5.4%). It also lost slightly more than 1% of its market share this month, but more than 3% since the beginning of the year. To put that in perspective, this month, each percent is worth about half-million dollars.
Ocean Casino, on the other hand, is the only casino to have a decline in year-over-year revenue (-24.89%). November 2018 was Ocean Casino’s highest earnings month of $731,887. While the casino has seen some slight increases of late, it’s been pretty much downhill since then.
| Operator | Poker Revenue | Casino Revenue | Total Gaming Win | Taxes Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borgata / Party / BetMGM | $393,797 | $7,826,500 | $8,220,297 | $1,239,101 |
| Caesars / Harrah's / 888 | $618,677 | $3,982,278 | $4,600,955 | $690,861 |
| Golden Nugget / Betfair / BetAmerica / SugarHouse | $- | $18,934,909 | $18,934,909 | $2,841,505 |
| Hard Rock / Unibet / Bet365 | $- | $2,169,113 | $2,169,113 | $325,367 |
| Ocean Casino / Parx Casino | $- | $549,740 | $549,740 | $82,487 |
| Resorts AC / DraftKings / PokerStars | $480,020 | $10,508,784 | $10,988,804 | $1,648,320 |
| Tropicana / Virgin | $- | $3,674,088 | $3,674,088 | $551,113 |
| Totals | $1,492,494 | $47,645,412 | $49,137,906 | $7,378,754 |
What the November NJ online casino revenue report tells us
While historical revenue helps predict future trends, this year has been anything but predictable.
The year started with a record-setting month and hasn’t looked back.
The market welcomed four new NJ online casinos this year. One of those casinos is under the Golden Nugget license, which can help explain some of its increase in market share.
However, the real story is that new online casinos don’t seem to be cannibalizing customers from existing operators. Instead, the market is expanding as the operator list grows.
There were three months in 2019 where revenue didn’t exceed the revenue from the month prior: February, April and June. Those months tend to be slow, and you can see similar patterns in previous years. In that sense, history seems to be repeating itself.
Last year at this time, we were busy trying to predict when New Jersey online gambling would hit $30 million in revenue. Now, we are trying to guess when it will hit $50 million.
If you look at the revenue percentage increase from November to December 2108 (7.6%), then 2019 will likely end on a high note.
Latest monthly figures from gaming regulators in Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey report staggering growth.
New Jersey sports betting handle reached over $250 million for the first time. Pennsylvania hit almost $60 million in only its second complete month of legal online sports betting.
The figures will give confidence to other states embarking on their own legal sports betting journey. But there are big lessons in these numbers that other states should consider carefully.
But first, each state’s numbers in detail.
New Jersey sees growth in every online vertical
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) figures showed revenue growth in online poker, online casino and online sports betting.
Nj Online Casino Revenue
Online poker is the big under-performer in terms of pre-legalization revenue estimates.
Some analysts expected poker to account for the same revenue as online casino. The reality is that poker is pulling in only 3.3 percent of total online gaming revenues. Nevertheless, it is growing, even if only by 2.2 percent.
Online casino revenue is rocking. Before sports betting launched in New Jersey online casino revenue was fairly flat.
My colleague Eric Ramsey pointed out on OnlinePokerReport how significant the launch of sports betting was for online casino:
“NJ online gambling revenue had leveled off around the $20 million plateau 18 months ago, seemingly approaching its ceiling. The addition of legal sports betting in mid-2018, however, coincides with a remarkable surge.”
The surge amounts to 55.6 percent year on year growth with revenues now up to $37.4 million.
Sports betting’s record quarter of a billion in handle produced record revenue of $17.9 million, and $13.9 million of that came from online.
Online sports betting accounted for 84.8 percent of the total handle and 77.8 percent of the revenue.
Summary of NJ revenue figures
- Poker Revenue–$1,886,918 (+2.1 percent year-on-year)
- Casino Revenue–$37,428,813 (+55.6 percent year-on-year)
- Sports Betting Revenue–$17,884,790 combined retail and online (No comparative figures available—total June/July sports betting revenue live and online was $3.8 million)
New Jersey top casinos
Online Poker
The partnership between 888 and Caesarscontinues to produce the highest online poker revenues. They recorded $815,836 for July. Former market leader PokerStarstrailed with $626,272 from its partnership with Resorts.
Online Casino
The Golden Nugget/Betfairpartnership continues to dominate online casino. Revenues of a whisker under $14.9 million give it a market share of 39.8 percent.
Their nearest competitor is the Resorts/Stars Group partnership which produced less than half the Nugget’s revenues at $6.24 million.
Online Sports Betting
FanDuel remains the online market leader. The DGE reports aggregate figures from the partner casino, Meadowlands and its other online partner PointsBet. The total July revenue came in at $7,323,483, the vast majority of this from FanDuel.
DraftKings was first to market but lost its crown to FanDuel. Together with partners Resorts Casino and BetStars, it pulled in $3,721,550.
The two former DFS operators with their Jersey partners have a lock on almost 80 percent of the online sports betting market.
Pennsylvania sports betting starts strong for SugarHouse
July is only the second full month of legal online sports betting for Pennsylvania. Not all online sportsbooks have been running for the whole period, so record figures are likely to be the norm for the next few months.
Pa Casino Revenue
Total sports betting handle was $59.3 million for July. Online sports betting recorded $38.9 million in handle, 65.6 percent of the total. As more online sportsbooks get into their stride that revenue split should move closer to the 85 percent we see in New Jersey.
FanDuel only opened its online sportsbook for the last nine days of July. Even so it looks set to challenge for market share the way it has in New Jersey.
Over those nine days, FanDuel racked up $3.3 million in handle. That implies a full month wagering rate of $11.4 million, a great start by any standards.
The target FanDuel is aiming for is set by current market leader SugarHouse. Its total handle came in at $26.4 million with around $22 million wagered online.
SugarHouse owner Rush Street Gaming also owns the Rivers Casino operation. It generated handle of $14.3 million of which $9.9 million came from the online sportsbook.
Nj Casino Revenue
Online casino and poker have yet to get off the ground, but figures for these will start to come in over the next month or two.
Grand totals for Pennsylvania came in at:
- Sports betting handle–$59,331,959
- Revenue–$5,079,633
- Gross revenue taxable–$2,852,137 (this is revenue minus promotional credits, more comparable to NJ revenue figures)
Lessons for other sports betting states
There’s an obvious track across from the revenue figures in New Jersey to forecasts for other states.
A simple estimate based on relative population size provides a baseline revenue forecast for what other states can expect from legal sports betting.
However, New Jersey has legalized online poker and online casino games as well as sports betting. This is an advantage.
States that only allow sports betting will have more difficulty attracting customers away from offshore online sites that offer a full range of gambling options.
New Jersey highlights the cross-sell power that legal sports betting has brought to the online casino space. Revenues were flat until the state legalized sports betting. Now they are growing strongly.
Correlation isn’t causation, but operators are touting their increased online casino revenues as the result of cross-selling to new sports betting customers.
The second big message from these figures is the importance of online sports betting. States like New York that have live sports betting but have yet to authorize online sports betting are missing up to 80 percent of the market.
That 80 percent isn’t sitting at home playing video games. It is betting on sports, but using illegal offshore operators rather than state-licensed companies.
If the aim of legalizing sports betting is to improve consumer protection the evidence shows clearly that the best results come from legalizing online casino and poker at the same time. And of course, making sure that online sports betting is available on mobile devices.