New Jersey gambling revenue up nearly 14%, but most casinos still trail pre-pandemic levels

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s casinos, horse tracks that take sports bets, and the online partners of both those types of gambling won more than $457 million in June, an increase of nearly 14% from a year earlier.

But the key metric for Atlantic City’s nine casinos — the amount of money won from in-person gamblers — continued to lag at seven of them, according to figures released Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

The amount of money the nine casinos collectively won from in-person gamblers in June narrowly surpassed the pre-pandemic level, at $241 million. But that was largely due to strong performances from the only two casinos whose in-person gambling revenue was higher last month than it was in June 2019: Hard Rock and Ocean.

An employee has testified that she thought she might die when a Las Vegas police officer allegedly robbed the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

A bill to extend internet gambling in New Jersey for another five years is in the hands of Gov. Phil Murphy following its approval by the state Legislature.

Internet gambling would be allowed to take place for at least five more years under the latest proposal by New Jersey lawmakers.

New Jersey’s casinos want to expand the state’s tops-in-the-nation internet gambling market for another 10 years, but state lawmakers may only approve it for an additional two.

Those are the city’s two newest casinos, having opened five years ago and steadily seizing market share.

James Plousis, chair of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said online gambling and sports betting have become permanent fixtures of the Atlantic City gambling industry.

“Gains in all three reported areas — casino win, internet gaming win, and sports wagering revenue — demonstrate that online and traditional gaming are a winning combination,” he said.

Casino executives, while welcoming the extra revenue streams, caution that they can be misleading because internet and sports betting money must be shared with partners like sports books and tech platforms, and is not solely for the casinos to keep. As much as 70% of online and sports betting money goes to these partners, they say.

Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling industry, said the numbers illustrate a growing divide between the performance of Hard Rock and Ocean, and everyone else.

Between 2015 and 2019, the other seven casinos consistently won more than $1 billion from in-person gamblers in the first half of the year. At $931.1 million for the first half of 2023, and $911.5 million in the first half of 2022, they have yet to make up that lost ground.

The Casino Association of New Jersey, the trade group for the Atlantic City casinos, said the numbers show “that the industry continues to be in a rebuilding and recovery phase from where it was three years ago.”

When internet and sports betting money is included, the market-leading Borgata won nearly $105 million in June, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Golden Nugget won $53.7 million, up 11%; Hard Rock won $51.2 million, down 1.7%; Ocean won nearly $40 million, up nearly 24%; Tropicana won $29.5 million, down 6.7%; Caesars won $21.6 million, up 10%; Harrah’s won nearly $21 million, up 3.4%; Bally’s won $19.4 million, up 10%; and Resorts won $15.3 million, up nearly 11%. Resorts Digital, the casino’s online arm, won nearly $61 million, up nearly 87%.

In terms of money won from in-person gamblers, Borgata won $60.5 million, up 11.6% from a year earlier; Hard Rock won $43.3 million, down 2.8%; Ocean won nearly $34.9 million, up 17.6%; Caesars won $21.4 million, up 11.4%; Tropicana won just over $21 million, down nearly 2%; Harrah’s won nearly $21 million, up 3.8%; Resorts won $15.2 million, up nearly 11%; Bally’s won $12.4 million, down 8.2%; and Golden Nugget won $11.8 million, down 6%.

Internet gambling brought in nearly $150 million in June, up 12.1%. Caesars Interactive Entertainment NJ, an internet-only entity, won over $9 million, down 3.6%.

More than $591 million worth of sports bets were made in New Jersey in June, with casinos, tracks and their partners keeping $66.3 million as earnings after paying off winning bets and other expenses.