The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported $1.33 billion in sports betting handle for March on Tuesday, the fourth-highest total in 70 months of legal wagering in the Garden State.
Handle was up 29.6% compared to the $1.03 billion worth of wagers placed in March 2023. It was the seventh consecutive month New Jersey bettors have wagered over $1 billion — the longest such run in state history — and 17th time overall. It was also a 22.9% increase compared to the $1.08 billion handle recorded in February.
Adjusted gross sports betting revenue totaled $89.7 million, resulting in a 6.8% hold. Operator winnings were down 3.6% compared to 12 months prior as this year’s win rate was more than 2.3 percentage points lower. Thanks to the record-setting January haul of $170.8 million, the $328 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2024 is up 49.1% versus the same span last year.
The state received $11 million in tax revenue, and the $42.3 million collected in the first three months is running $13.9 million ahead of last year’s pace. March’s handle left New Jersey $171 million shy of becoming the first state to reach $50 billion in the post-PASPA era.
A new layer of transparency from the NJDGE
Running Top 10 March #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 New York $1.85B
2 NEW JERSEY $1.33B
3 N.C. $659.3M
4 Mass. $654.9M
5 Maryland $536.7M
6 Indiana $500.8M
7 Michigan $497.6M
8 Tenn. ~$472M
9 Louisiana $350M
10 Iowa $272.4M#SportsBettingX #GamblingX— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 16, 2024
The NJDGE released monthly figures for mobile operators for the first time, removing the shroud of mystery for how well sports betting apps were doing when operating under casinos with multiple skins. DraftKings‘ numbers stood alone as the only online skin of Resorts Digital Gaming, but the new layer of disclosure provides some insight into industry leader FanDuel‘s performance. It was third among mobile operators with $17.6 million in March winnings, lifting its year-to-date total to $82.1 million.
The NJDGE figures do not provide handle for each mobile operator, but it would surprise no one FanDuel topped the list for revenue — both for March and thus far in 2024. The online titan reaped $29.5 million worth of revenue in March, more than one-third of the $85.7 million claimed by the 21 digital sportsbooks, and is currently the only one in nine figures for the year at $136.9 million.
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The biggest surprise among the figures was PointsBet ranking second for March revenue with $20.1 million. New Jersey is one of the last remaining states where Fanatics Sportsbook has yet to migrate its platform, and PointsBet’s March winnings accounted for 36% of its $55.6 million in winnings in the first quarter of the year.
BetMGM was the only other operator in eight figures for revenue in 2024, totaling close to $17 million after collecting $5.9 million in winnings for March. Bet365 edged out Caesars for the final spot in the top five, with the England-based mobile sportsbook at $9.8 million and Caesars at $8.7 million. Caesars, though, narrowed the gap by roughly $430,000 in March after picking up $3.5 million in revenue to bet365’s $3.1 million.
There are four sportsbooks that are currently in the red for 2024 action, with Golden Nugget facing the biggest deficit at just shy of $200,000. Betway swung into the red after a tough March in which bettors came out $115,057 ahead. Sporttrade absorbed the biggest loss in March at $187,893, which also put them $19,917 down through the first three months of the year. Prime Sportsbook, which made its debut in the Garden State in March, paid out $1,958 above the wagers it accepted.
On the flip side, ESPN BET moved into the black for 2024 after posting $4.3 million in revenue for March. That left the PENN Entertainment-owned sportsbook $423,825 ahead for the year, leaving it looking up at BetRivers ($2.4 million), Borgata‘s in-house app ($1.6 million), Hard Rock Bet ($1.5 million), Tipico ($1.1 million), and betPARX ($627,419).
The parlay siren calls again
Nearly $5 out of every $8 of operator revenue came via parlay wagering, with the total windfall $55.8 million from $292.4 million handle. The 19.1% hold was roughly in line with the combined efforts from the betting public in the first two months, as parlay revenue topped $200 million for the year thanks to a 19.2% win rate against $1.06 billion worth of such bets.
The public, though, nearly fought the house to a stalemate in basketball wagering, limiting operators to a collective 1.1% hold on $627.4 million handle — the second-highest total recorded in state history. Revenue plunged 67.2% from February’s $21.1 million haul down to $6.9 million.
March baseball proved a boon to the betting public as they came out $5.9 million ahead on $87.7 million handle. It was by far the biggest monthly loss for operators, with the previous worst a $934,908 deficit in March 2023.
The catch-all “other” category — which includes golf, tennis, hockey, MMA, and auto racing among others in New Jersey — was good to operators, as they collected $27.9 million in winnings from $318.4 million worth of wagers. The $84.7 million won in the first three months of 2024 has come on the strength of a 9.1% hold and is currently the biggest source of non-parlay revenue.
