Sports Betting Helps Atlantic City to 24% Increase in August Gambling Revenue

Casino News Daily

“It is an exciting time for Atlantic City”, David Rebuck, Director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, said on Wednesday after the publication of the August report about the performance of the city’s gambling industry.

Legal sports betting boosted monthly results and helped Atlantic City’s nine operational casinos record their biggest growth in several years. Total gaming revenue amounted to $303.9 million last month, up 24.1% year-on-year. Casino revenue accounted for the lion’s share of overall revenue. Atlantic City’s nine operational casinos generated $269.9 million last month, reflecting a 20.7% increase from the same month a year earlier. Online gambling operations brought in revenue of $24.8 million in August, up 16.6% year-on-year. Revenue from sports betting totaled $9.2 million for the month.

The Borgata was once again the casino to account for the largest portion of total revenue generated. The property reported revenue of $76.4 million for the month of August. It is also important to note that the Borgata was among the first properties to launch sports betting in New Jersey, following the May 14 SCOTUS ruling that struck down the long-standing federal ban on wagering. The casino launched its physical sportsbook on June 14. It also went live with an online wagering operation on August 22. The casino generated betting revenue of $855,152 last month.

New Jersey’s Sports Betting Industry in August

As mentioned above, sports betting revenue amounted to $9.2 million last month. The figure includes revenue generated by Atlantic City’s sportsbooks and the sports betting facilities at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park racetracks as well as by online/mobile wagering operations.

Meadowlands was the property to generate the largest amount in sports betting revenue last month. The property reported betting proceeds of $3.06 million. Resorts’ digital division posted the second largest revenue figure last month. The operation generated a total of $2.97 million in August. Resorts launched online sports betting on August 1.

Overall sports betting handle, or the total amount wagered at New Jersey’s brick-and-mortar and digital betting outlets, totaled $95,634,048 in August. The amount of $73,919,891 was wagered across the state’s physical sportsbook, and $21,714,157 were placed in online bets. The state has thus recorded sports betting handle of $152,727,069 since first legal wagering operations began on June 14.

In comparison, Mississippi, which legalized sports betting in July and saw its first sportsbooks go live on August 1, reported betting handle of $9.8 million for the first full month of legal wagering. More than 20 of the state’s casinos opened sportsbook in the period between August 1 and September 3. It is important to note that Mississippi is home to nearly 3 million people, while New Jersey’s population stands at over 9 million people.

Delaware and West Virginia were the other two states to legalize betting following the mid-May SCOTUS ruling. Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are also set to go live with sports betting by the end of the year, and more states are expected to join the US legal wagering scene next year.

The post Sports Betting Helps Atlantic City to 24% Increase in August Gambling Revenue appeared first on Casino News Daily.

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