NJ's Online Gambling Market Grew 16.7% in January

In January, New Jersey’s online gambling market generated $21.96 million in revenue, representing a 16.7% increase compared to the $18.8 million collected in the same month last year. From that tally, online casino games accounted for $20 million of revenues, up by 21.4% year-on-year, while online poker followed a familiar path with its revenue dropping by 16.6% to $1.95 million, and down by 7% compared to the previous month.
Overall, New Jersey’s online gambling revenue of $21.96 million represented a new high point for the state, overtaking the previous record of $21.7 million set in March of 2017. It also marks 11 consecutive months of growth for the state’s online gambling industry.
The good news doesn’t stop there, either, as the Golden Nugget’s group of internet gambling sites collected a combined $7.3 million, surpassing its previous monthly high set last July of $6.25 million. Placed a distant second was the Borgata with $4.15 million, followed by Resorts Digital Gaming ($3.9m), Caesars Interactive Entertainment ($3.35m), and Tropicana ($3.27m).
Including revenues derived from its seven land-based casinos, Atlantic City won a collective $184.3 million in January, lower by 9.9% from January 2017, with just the Golden Nugget (+1.7%) noting a slight year-on-year growth. On the other side of the coin, Caesars posted a massive monthly decline of 23% to $21.7 million, followed by Harrah’s down 16.3% to $23.5 million, Borgata down 10.2% to $57.7 million; Bally’s down 8.8% to $12.7 million, Resorts down 6% to $11.6 million, and finally the Tropicana down 4.4% to $26.1 million.
Nevertheless, analysts have blamed the terrible numbers on a snow storm which struck on January 4th, resulting in the closure of some schools and businesses. Pointing out that January’s result should not be seen as indicative of the way in which Atlantic City’s casinos will perform this year, James Plousis, chairman of the NJ Casino Control Commission., stated:
“What a difference a blizzard makes. When people are stuck in their homes by more than a foot of snow and temperatures are dipping into single digits, they don’t come to Atlantic City. So, it comes as no surprise that casino revenues were down last month.”
In fact, officials are expecting 2018 to be a bumper year for the state’s gambling market, especially with the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and the Ocean Resort Club due to open for business this year. New Jersey’s online gambling market is also expected to receive a boost after it joins a poker liquidity sharing network with Nevada and Delaware, with Pennsylvania expected to follow suit once it gets its newly regulated industry off the ground.