Tracking Online Gaming Industry Growth In The Garden State

As the birthplace of Atlantic City, New Jersey has long been a trailblazer for the offline casino industry, and they were an early trailblazer in the online casino industry as well. How early? Well, they’re coming up on a decade, as the state’s online gaming industry just celebrated its ninth anniversary.

The Garden State first planted the seeds for their online wagering ventures in November of 2013, and that cultivated profitable ventures elsewhere in the US, as states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan would go on to launch their own legal online casino markets.

Nine years later, Jersey now has nearly 30 different online casinos of its own, each generating billions in revenue for the state. Let’s take a look back at some past industry milestones, and look ahead to what the future could potentially hold.

$100 Million A Month In NJ

For roughly the last two years, NJ online casinos have easily cleared over $100 million a month, including an all-time state record of $147.2 million in October. That falls just shy of the continental monthly record set by nearby Pennsylvania, which pulled in $151.7 million, also around October.

Nevertheless, $147.2 million is still quite the jump from the state’s first month of revenue: $7.4 million, when online casinos first launched in 2013. That’s a pretty penny in its own right, and plenty of online operators have cropped up since then to turn even bigger profits.

From The Poker Set To The Sportsbook

The New Jersey online gaming business boomed even further in 2018, after Democratic Governor Phil Murphy was given the green light to launch online sports betting markets in the state. This was the first pre-planned boom of the Garden State’s online gaming industries; the second one came more by surprise, and was a little more unexpected.

Obviously, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic closed the doors of Atlantic City casino locations for a considerable period of time, leading more and more New Jersey residents to seek out a taste of the Atlantic City experience at home. These retail, brick-and-mortar casino locations were already pulling in tens of millions of dollars in revenue; the final month before lockdown just closed under $80 million.

But those numbers were quickly eclipsed by online operators, who hit their first $100+ million milestone with $103.8 million in revenue come January 2021. That $100+ million monthly threshold only fell short in February 2021, closing at $93.8 million. Here’s how most months out of the past year have stacked up against that threshold.

The Top 10 Most Profitable Months For NJ Online Casinos

Here are the ten most profitable Garden State online gaming months on record, with nine out of ten of those months coming out of the past year:

• Oct. 2022: $147.2M

• Mar. 2022: $140.7M

• Jan. 2022: $137.8M

• Apr. 2022: $136.9M

• Jul. 2022: $136.7M

• May 2022: $136M

• Sept. 2022: $135.2M

• Dec. 2021: $133.2M

• Jun. 2022: $133.1M

• Aug. 2022: $131.4M

Building Up A Few Billion

Collectively, New Jersey’s online gaming industry has generated over $5 billion USD in lifetime revenue, largely in part due to powerfully performing local operators like Golden Nugget, Borgata, and Resorts Digital. Borgata is an exceptionally strong performer in this space, thanks in part to their local partnership with the state’s iteration of BetMGM.

Much of Golden Nugget’s strength came from the operator being among the first to offer video live dealer games in North America. Its land-based Marina District property also pulled in an exceptionally high $356.2 million in floor earnings.

Moreover, Resorts works with a multitude of notable industry partners through its license, including Barstool Casino, PokerStars’ popular online poker platform, and of course, DraftKings Casino. Here are some all-time total revenue estimates from each state license with both online and offline gaming ventures, as of September 2022:

• Golden Nugget AC: $1,449,933,332

• Borgata Casino: $1,308,724,313

• Resorts Casino AC: $1,002,666,389

• Caesars AC: $545,061,546

• Tropicana AC: $448,080,083

• Hard Rock AC: $208,335,301

• Ocean: $53,828,729

• Bally’s AC: $28,701,484

With the exception of two operators outside of these criteria (Trump Plaza and Taj Mahal), all of them have cleared tens to hundreds of millions in total revenue. Most of these operators have also cleared over $150 million in all-time revenue, but will they ever clear that in a month?

Breaking The $150 Million Ceiling?

Most of the state’s licensed operators have cleared over $150 million in lifetime earnings over the course of several years, but is it possible that they will clear it over the course of a month? Most definitely.

Certainly, $147.2 million in a month isn’t very far off from $150 million, and beyond the already successful online gaming ventures in the state, more of them are bound to crop up in the years to come.