Online Casino Revenue Hits Record $166.8M In New Jersey
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The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported an all-time monthly high of $166.8 million in online casino gaming revenue for October, part of a strong overall month in which the Garden State totaled $487.1 million in operator winnings.
October’s total for New Jersey online casino was slightly over $1 million more than the established in March. It was up 13.3% from last year’s total of $147.2 million and 1.8% higher than the $163.8 million from September that had ranked second all-time.
Brick-and-mortar casino revenue from Atlantic City’s nine venues was up 3.4% year-over-year to $228.1 million, with table games winnings surging 19.7% to $65.1 million. That more than offset a 1.9% dip in slots revenue, which declined to just over $163 million.
Sports wagering revenue also posted solid year-over-year gains, up 18.4% to $92.3 million. The overall figure was up 9.3% compared to the $445.7 million generated in October 2022, an increase of $41.4 million.
The state had an inflow of $50.8 million in taxes into its coffers for October, with online casino apps and sites accounting for just shy of half that amount at $25.1 million. Mobile casino gaming provided $13.9 million worth of tax receipts, while digital sports wagering kicked in the remaining $11.8 million.
Golden Nugget sets new state record for revenue
Typically locked in a three-way tussle for the top revenue generator spot with the Borgata and Resorts Digital, Golden Nugget separated itself from the pair in impressive fashion with a state-record $49.4 million in revenue for October.
Golden Nugget, which counts FanDuel, BetRivers, and Betway as its mobile skins in addition to its own, blew past its previous high of $45.1 million in September while posting a 28.7% increase compared to October 2022. It was the eighth time Golden Nugget reached $40 million in monthly revenue, and its $421.8 million in 2023 winnings is within $10 million of its full-year 2022 total.
Though runner-up for October, Resorts can take solace in also setting its own all-time monthly high for the second consecutive month. Its $46 million, which included an online poker rake of $830,000, was $600,000 above September’s total. Resorts, which has DraftKings, PENN Entertainment’s product, and Mohegan Sun Casino among its digital platforms, has already surpassed its full-year 2022 revenue mark after eclipsing $400 million for 2023.
Borgata, meanwhile, was a distant third with $35.6 million in winnings — down 13.2% from October 2022. It ended a three-month streak with at least $40 million and finished with its lowest monthly haul since posting $33.7 million in November 2021. That also sliced into Borgata’s year-to-date growth, which is just 0.8% compared to 2022.
There were also monthly all-time highs across the three smaller platforms as Tropicana ($9.4 million), Hard Rock ($8.3 million), and Ocean Casino ($4.9 million) set new benchmarks in October. Each digital platform had year-over-year gains exceeding 50%, with Hard Rock blowing past $7 million for the first time en route to its record take.
In addition to those gains helping set an all-time monthly revenue record, they offset Caesars Interactive’s revenue plunging 34.2% from the previous October to just over $6 million. Caesars’ internet gaming platform revenue is down 19% compared to the first 10 months of 2022 to $77.9 million.
For the year, the $1.57 billion in revenue from online casino gaming is up 15.1% compared to the first 10 months of 2022, a rise of $206.8 million. That increase is narrowly better than the $206.4 million more sportsbooks have claimed in 2023 versus 2022, with revenue from that gaming discipline up a robust 34.7% to $801.3 million.
Ocean Casino cleans up on the felt
When excluding the poker rake, the year-over-year table revenue net gain of $10.7 million can largely be attributed to Ocean Casino’s record haul of $19 million. That was 147.4% higher than the $7.7 million from October 2022, while its eye-watering 28.4% hold on table drop totaling $66.7 million was the highest since the property reopened its doors in June 2018.
On the other side of the fence was Caesars, which posted a meager 5.4% hold on $28.6 million table drop to claim $1.5 million in winnings. That is the lowest hold for any casino conducting full-month wagering in Atlantic City going back as far as January 2015 and contributed to year-over-year revenue plunging 66.7% to its lowest total — also going back to January 2015.
Ocean Casino’s big month on the felt contributed to an all-time monthly high of $43.4 million, a year-over-year increase of 53.3% as it topped $40 million for just the second time in history. Its previous best of $40.4 million came in July 2023.
Borgata paced the nine Atlantic City casinos with $56.9 million in revenue, which was an 8.9% decline versus October 2022. While it did report a 6.7% increase in table games revenue to $15.6 million, slots revenue slid 13.6% to $40.3 million.
Hard Rock grabbed the final podium spot for revenue with $41.2 million, with table games revenue up 6.5% to $13.4 million thanks to a 2023-best hold of 18.6%. That slightly outpaced the 5.5% increase in slot revenue to $27.9 million.
