ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — In New Jersey, online gambling had its best month ever in August, with revenues of more than $198 million, while most land-based casinos in Atlantic City were still posting lower profits than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released figures showing that online gambling generated $198.4 million, the highest monthly amount ever in the state and an increase of nearly 28 percent from a year earlier.
That was good news for Atlantic City’s gambling industry.
The bad news was that their core business — money won from physical gamblers — is still struggling. Six of the nine casinos won less from people physically present on their premises than they did in August 2019, before the pandemic hit.
In August, casinos won $294 million from gamblers at their physical establishments, up 4.9% from a year earlier.
If we include the money from sports betting and online gambling, the casinos, the two racetracks that accept sports bets and their online partners have won more than $555 million. That is an increase of 4.4 percent from a year ago.
Since money from internet and sports betting has to be shared with external parties, such as sportsbooks and technology platforms, casinos consider winning personal winnings as their core business.
And for two-thirds of casinos, business still isn’t as good as it was before COVID-19. Only three casinos — Borgata, Hard Rock and Ocean — won more from brick-and-mortar gamblers last month than they did in August 2019, before the pandemic.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies Atlantic City’s gambling market, said the numbers show how important online gambling is becoming to the resort.
“This key vertical market for the casino industry has exceeded $190 million in four of the last eight months amid a trend that has seen off-property gaming activities, including online sports betting, account for nearly half of Atlantic City operators’ total gross gaming revenue,” she said.
Sports betting revenue of $62.7 million fell nearly 35% in August. But Bokunewicz said that’s a statistical oddity because of the comparison to August 2023, when sports betting revenue was exceptionally high, twice as high as the August 2022 total.
In terms of money won by land-based gamblers, Borgata won $74.2 million in August, up 1.6%. Hard Rock won $55.3 million, up 9.2%; Ocean won $44 million, up 11.4%; Harrah’s won $25.1 million, up 2.4%; Tropicana won $24.9 million, up just under 1%; Caesars won $24 million, up 9.2%; Resorts won $16.1 million, down almost 9%; Bally’s won $15.6 million, up 4.2%, and Golden Nugget won $14.6 million, up 11.2%.
When internet and sports betting money is included, Borgata won $125.5 million, up 6.4%; Hard Rock won nearly $72 million, up 21.5%; Golden Nugget won $69.7 million, up nearly 29%; Ocean’s won $49.1 million, up 10.1%; Tropicana won $46.5 million, up nearly 41%; Bally’s won nearly $29 million, up 24.3%; Harrah’s won $27.2 million, up 11%; Caesars won $24.1 million, up 9.3%; and Resorts won $16.2 million, down 8.3%.
Resorts Digital, the casino’s online arm, won $69.2 million, down 30.2%.
In August, nearly $699 million was placed in sports betting in New Jersey in a market that had since shrunk.
On July 31, Freehold Raceway stopped taking sports bets, leaving Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford and Monmouth Park in Oceanport as the state’s only horse racing tracks to accept sports bets. The track’s parent company, Penn Entertainment, did not respond to a message seeking comment about why it was ceasing sports betting at Freehold.
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