New Jersey Gaming Revenue Tops $500 Million For July
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A strong year-over-year rise in online casino gaming pushed New Jersey‘s overall gaming revenue above $500 million in July, according to figures released by the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Internet casino operator winnings totaled close to $155.2 million, up 13.5% versus 2022, and ranked fourth all-time going back to launch in 2013. It was the sixth time that iGaming revenue surpassed $150 million in the Garden State, with five of those instances coming this year.
The rise in iGaming revenue offset a 3% decline in brick-and-mortar casino revenue, which totaled nearly $290 million. July is typically the busiest month for the nine Atlantic City casinos as throngs flock to the boardwalk area in southern New Jersey.
The $445.1 million in combined in-person and online casino revenue was 2.2% higher than the same period last year, with sports wagering revenue adding another $61 million to push the overall haul above one-half billion dollars. The state received nearly $49.2 million in taxes from the trio of gaming disciplines, with internet gaming accounting for $23.2 million and Atlantic City casinos chipping in an additional $18.3 million.
A tough month for gains in Atlantic City
The high plateaus of previous July revenue totals proved a challenge for brick-and-mortar casinos. Only three posted year-over-year gains, with the highest a 2.4% increase from the Borgata. Table games revenue in Atlantic City slipped 13.2% to $72.2 million, more than canceling out a 0.9% increase in slot revenue to $217.8 million.
The Borgata reported close to $78.6 million in casino revenue, helped by a 6.2% rise in slot revenue to $57 million. It surpassed $20 million in table games winnings for the first time since last August, but the $20.3 million was well off its all-time high of nearly $30.1 million established pre-pandemic in July 2019. The Borgata’s combined revenue of $127.6 million across all gaming disciplines was an all-time high among New Jersey casinos.
Bally’s posted a 2.3% gain versus July 2022 with $17.2 million in revenue, thanks to a 20.4% bounce in table games revenue to $4.8 million. Its win rate on the felt was just shy of 16%, nearly 4.6 percentage points higher compared to last year.
Hard Rock was the other venue to come out ahead against last year, eking out a 0.3% gain to $53.1 million and good for second overall among the nine casinos. Its 5.1% gain in slot revenue to $37.6 million was just enough to offset the 9.7% dip in table games revenue to $15.4 million. Table games bettors held Hard Rock dealers to a year-low 13.7% hold, which was more than four percentage points lower than July 2022.
Resorts had the biggest slide in revenue in terms of percentage, tumbling 16.1% to $15.2 million. The 6.4% hold for table games was the worst in its history going back to at least January 2015, which resulted in a 58.5% downswing to $1.3 million in revenue.
Tropicana absorbed the biggest lost in dollars, down more than $3.8 million to $24.1 million. The 13.6% decline came from both sides of the gaming coin, with table games revenue off 29% and slots revenue lower by 9.8%.
Borgata rules the online roost with Resorts close behind
Though the Borgata’s online revenue totaled just shy of $43 million from operators including BetMGM and Wheel of Fortune, it was flat compared to July 2022. It was still enough to claim the top spot for this year. That included a poker rake of nearly $865,000, its best month in that category since claiming close to $982,000 in March of last year.
Resorts Digital, which includes DraftKings and Barstool Sportsbook among its online skins, accounted for the majority of the year-over-year statewide increase of nearly $18.5 million increase in operator revenue. Its $40.6 million in total winnings was almost $10.1 million higher than last year, an increase of 33.1% as it topped $40 million for the fifth time this year. Golden Nugget narrowly missed making it a trio of operators at $40 million, coming less than $213,000 short while increasing its revenue 15.2% versus 2022.
Bally’s had the biggest increase in terms of percentage year-over-year, vaulting 70.2% to an all-time monthly high of over $6.8 million. It was the fifth consecutive month with more than $6.6 million in revenue. Bally’s year-to-date total of $44.7 million has already eclipsed its full-year 2022 total of $41.8 million.
Ocean Resort also enjoyed a banner July, with revenue surging 57% to $4.3 million. That total, though, was also down 11.3% compared to June’s all-time high of over $4.8 million. Caesars was the lone online operator to have a decline compared to 2022, with its $8.6 million in revenue 21.7% off last year’s number.
The statewide poker rake of $2.7 million was the second-best total of the year, a mere $11,000 lower than January.
