The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) released official monthly figures for June on Friday, just as the third edition of SBC | Summit North America was wrapping up at The Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus.
After a look at the numbers, to put it kindly, college and pro football seasons can’t come soon enough for mobile sports betting and New Jersey casinos.
At the start of the summer, June’s total N.J. sports betting handle post was at $633.19 million, a steep decrease of 17.4% from May’s $766.41M and down the same number — 17.4% — from June 2021 ($766.88M).
Mobile usage represented 93% of the sports betting market in June, posting at $588.89M, down a solid 16.9% from May’s sports betting handle of $708.37M, and down 13.8% from June 2021 at $683.02M.
On the total revenue side, the loss was more than doubled.
Total sports betting revenue in June registered at more than $39.25 million, down a whopping 36.3% from May’s $61.59M and 44.9% from June 2021 ($71.27M).
Gaming Revenue Also Sees DecreasesÂ
Gaming revenue in the Garden State posted mild downward turns as well.
June’s total gaming revenue tallied a little more than $400 million at more than $401.53M, a 6.8% decline from May’s $430.63M. However, it marked a slight smidge upward of 2.2% from June 2021 ($392.84M).
Online casino gambling stayed steady at $133.14M, down 2.1% from May’s $136.02M and up a solid 24.4% from June last year ($107.05M).
New Jersey is one of six states with real money online casinos, along with Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Those states, plus Nevada, also have legalized online poker.
“Total Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) for the month improved on June 2021 by 9.2% and June 2019 by 40.4%. In keeping with current trends, a significant portion of that growth came from internet and sports betting, which have grown in significance in the past few years,” said Jane Bokunewicz, faculty director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism (LIGHT) at Stockton University School of Business, in a statement. “This time last year, internet gaming has grown so much in significance that even a seasonal plateauing of revenues generated from that activity (-2.1% compared to May 2022) did not diminish its impact on the industry’s overall performance for the month.”
With the push for summer promotions and staycations at Atlantic City casinos, the public is yearning to get out and about after the last two-plus years of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.
“Total brick-and-mortar revenue for the month was up 6.8% compared to June 2021, which is encouraging since the industry does not have the benefit of the pent-up demand that motivated much of last summer’s activity,” Bokunewicz said. “Although down slightly (1.7%) compared to last month (May 2022), this could be evidence of a delayed impact from higher than usual gas prices and continuing inflation.
“The peak summer season is still ahead of us, and, with the uncertainty of the potential Local 54 strike settled for most casinos, the summer looks promising.”
