New Jersey gambling revenue makes another huge jump in post-pandemic era

Those figures represent a year-over-year increase of 290.4%, according to state gaming regulators. The market is primed for a continued rebound as government-imposed restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have nearly all been removed.

Those same restrictions make the year-over-year comparisons for the numbers basically moot, but May’s numbers were up slightly from April’s revenue of $352.2 million.

Since the pandemic began, online casinos have increased in popularity and reached record highs in March when the state’s virtual operators reported won $113.7 million from gamblers. Those levels have been sustained with those same casinos reporting $108.2 million in gross earnings last month.

Garden State sportsbooks, which have emerged as some of the most successful in the country since their inception in 2018, won $52.8 million in May. It brings year-to-date totals for the market to $297.07 million. The books won that amount after accepting $814.2 million in wagers throughout the month. The year-to-date sports betting handle ballooned to $4.1 billion.

Through the first five months of 2021, casinos won $1.7 billion, a sharp uptick from the $929.7 million won last year during the same timeframe.

Borgata once again was the highest-grossing brick-and-mortar casino in the state with $48.67 million in revenue and its online platform generated $32.8 million, which was also tops in the state.

Borgata’s online casino just barely out-earned Golden Nugget’s online operation, which reported $31.1 million in winnings. Resorts Digital, which owns the PokerStars New Jersey brand, was the only other online operator with eight-figure earnings with $21.5 million. The state’s entire online operation saw a 25.9% uptick year-over-year.

Hard Rock Atlantic City was the second-highest earner on the brick-and-mortar side of the industry with just shy of $35 million, while Bally’s reported $12.3 million in revenue. Those numbers represented the least revenue of any of the nine Atlantic City properties.