The New Jersey casinos in Atlantic City started the year in the best way possible. January revenues for the nine AC casinos was over $270,5 million, a 22,6% increase year on year (with almost $50 million more in revenues).
Steve Callender, the president of the Casino Association of New Jersey said that “2020 is off to a promising start for Atlantic City.”
January numbers showed growth from all verticals, including sports betting, table games, slots, online casino and online sports betting.
“Internet and sports wagering did particularly well, bolstering the industry’s performance in the middle of the traditional offseason.” said James Plousis, Casino Control Commission Chairman.
Slots and table game revenues were up 8,3% for the whole NJ gambling industry, much thanks to the two latest properties, Ocean Casino Resort and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, which came in sixth and third in the revenue report (up 36% year on year) when it comes to table games and slot machine revenues.
CEO of Ocean Casino Resort Terry Glebocki said “January was our seventh consecutive month of double-digit growth,” and “We were exceptionally pleased with our slot revenues, which increased 87% over last January. We will continue to invest in our property and our new high limit slot parlor, new Asian gaming salon and new VIP lounge are on their way.”
Online gaming up 64%
After having a great year in 2019 with all time highs in eight out of twelve months (2019 total revenue was $482.7, up 61,6% over 2018), the online sector keeps showing great numbers in 2020.
The New Jersey revenues from online gaming in January was over $55 million, an increase by 64%, or $21 million year on year.
“With the current trajectory, $700 million in yearly online gambling revenues is possible in 2020, something most would have claimed impossible not that long ago“ said John O’Reilly, gambling analyst for Gamblingtimes.com.
He continued “with the current momentum for gambling on sports and online casinos in New Jersey the Garden State could be a contender for the leading market in the US, especially for sports betting”.
The most successful online sportsbooks in January was FanDuel and Pointsbet, both under the Meadowlands license, with a revenue of $26,5 million. Second came Fox Bet and DraftKings (Resorts Digital license) with revenues of $15,9 million.
What’s interesting to see is how dominant mobile gaming is in the Garden State. In January, 87% of all sports betting revenue online came from mobile devices. This is down by 1% from December, but still paints the picture on how important a great mobile product is.
California should wake up and legalise online gambling.
Today CA players play on offshore illegal casinos and sportsbooks and all the money goes to private companies in Curacao, Costa Rica and Antigua, instead of a big part going back to the state in gaming taxes.