The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported sports wagering handle of more than $1 billion for October, the seventh time the Garden State has cleared the notable benchmark. It was the first time handle surpassed $1 billion since over March’s $1.1 billion tally, and October’s total ranks sixth overall.
The billion-dollar handle, though, again showed the drag New York’s mobile presence has put on New Jersey. Handle compared to October 2021 plunged 18.6%, as last year’s $1.3 billion — with no online competition from the Empire State — ranks No. 2 overall in the Garden State. The $1.9 billion in handle over the past two months is a gaudy total, but also 16.7% lower versus the same period in 2021.
Also of note was the betting public finally getting its bearings and limiting the house to a pedestrian 7.4% hold for October. That was a drop of four percentage points compared to September and the lowest in the state since a 6.2% win rate in July. It also was the lowest monthly hold for any state since Nevada posted a 3.9% win rate for August.
The drop in hold contributed to a 20.5% decline in adjusted revenue versus September to $77.9 million, though that ranks sixth in 53 months of all-time wagering in New Jersey. The state collected $9.9 million in tax receipts, lifting the total for the year over $76 million and just shy of $275 million all-time.
The New Jersey DGE does not break out handle and revenue by operator, but category breakdowns showed bettors having good months in individual sports. The public came out $460,855 ahead on $141 million handle in basketball and held the house to a 3.5% hold in football, as operators claimed just $14.6 million in revenue from $414.1 million in accepted wagers.
The 4.1% win rate for baseball wagering led to $4 million in operator revenue, while the catch-all “other” category — which includes hockey, soccer, golf, and tennis — accounted for $7.5 million in revenue from $149.9 million handle for a 5% hold. But bettors’ inability to put the right combinations together led to operators reaping more than $57.2 million in revenue on parlay wagers, the second-highest total all-time behind the $70.8 million from last November 2021.
The $264.7 million parlay handle meant operators had a 21.6% win rate — the third consecutive month it was at least 21% and fourth time over 20% this year. Parlay revenue has totaled $349.6 million for the 2022 calendar year, accounting for 58.8% of the overall $594.8 million in operator revenue.
Meadowlands Racetrack, the retail tether to mobile operators FanDuel, PointsBet, and SuperBook, surpassed $1 billion in all-time mobile revenue after the trio combined to generate $42.7 million in winnings for October. It was the second consecutive month and third time overall that the three mobile books topped a combined $40 million, but October’s total was still a ways off the all-time record of $59 million last November.
Resorts Digital, which has DraftKings, FOX Bet, and its own mobile skin among its tethers, was a distant second in revenue at $17.2 million. The Borgata, which serves as tether to BetMGM and its own sportsbook, rounded out the podium spots for revenue with $8.5 million.
Three venues finished in the red for mobile revenue in October: Golden Nugget, Hard Rock, and Harrah’s. Golden Nugget had the biggest loss of the trio at -$122,766, which was also its third monthly loss in 2022. Hard Rock, which is tethered to Unibet and bet365 in addition to its own mobile skin, lost nearly $100,000 for its first monthly loss since paying out nearly $300,000 more than wagers accepted in December 2019.
Harrah’s, which has Prophet Exchange as its lone mobile skin as the now-closed Fubo Sportsbook winds down, finished nearly $35,000 in the red for October.
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