New Jersey Sportsbooks Report Summertime Blues as June Handle Falls

Figures released on Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show Garden State sportsbooks handled $633.2 million in bets during June, around 17% lower than May and approximately 17% lighter than a year earlier.

Geoff Zochodne - Senior News Analyst at Covers.com
Geoff Zochodne • Senior News Analyst
Jul 18, 2022 • 12:23 ET • 2 min read
Sports Betting
Photo By - USA TODAY Sports

The summer doldrums have now come for sports betting in New Jersey.

Figures released on Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show Garden State sportsbooks handled $633.2 million in bets during June, around 17% lower than May and approximately 17% lighter than a year earlier. 

The June handle for retail and online sportsbooks in New Jersey was the lowest monthly amount of action for the state's bookmakers since last July, when wagering added up to $578 million. 

While the sports schedule has slowed down since the days of college basketball tournaments and playoff football, New Jersey operators may also be feeling a bit more of a pinch due to New York’s launch of online sports betting in January. Although Garden State sportsbooks have weathered the new competition, the opening of such a huge market next door could finally be taking a toll on New Jersey’s handle. 

Revenue for New Jersey sportsbooks is slipping as well. Sports wagering revenue in the state was $39.2 million in June, down nearly 45% year-over-year and 36% lower than May’s haul. And, as of the end of June, sports-wagering revenue in New Jersey amounted to $308.7 million, 16.2% lower than a year earlier.

The hold for operators for June was about 6.2%, which was a drop from May’s 8% win rate. 

Summertime in the void

As per usual, Meadowlands Racing and Entertainment was the top sports-betting licensee in New Jersey in terms of revenue last month. The racetrack and its online sportsbook partners — FanDuel, PointsBet, and SuperBook Sports — generated $21.4 million in revenue for the month.

It’s not unusual to see business slowing at sportsbooks during the summer months, as the busy season is really just the National Football League’s regular season and playoffs. 

But the slowdown in sports betting in New Jersey came even as overall gaming revenue ticked up year-over-year in June, by about 2% to $401.5 million. That included $229.1 million won by brick-and-mortar casinos and $133.1 in revenue from online gaming, the latter of which was up 24.4% from a year earlier.

The year-to-date handle for New Jersey sportsbooks still sits at around $5.8 billion as of the end of June. Going by completed events, the most-bet sport in the state has been basketball, with $2.3 billion in wagering thus far this year.

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Geoff Zochodne, Covers Sports Betting Journalist
Senior News Analyst

Geoff has been writing about the legalization and regulation of sports betting in Canada and the United States for more than three years. His work has included coverage of launches in New York, Ohio, and Ontario, numerous court proceedings, and the decriminalization of single-game wagering by Canadian lawmakers. As an expert on the growing online gambling industry in North America, Geoff has appeared on and been cited by publications and networks such as Axios, TSN Radio, and VSiN. Prior to joining Covers, he spent 10 years as a journalist reporting on business and politics, including a stint at the Ontario legislature. More recently, Geoff’s work has focused on the pending launch of a competitive iGaming market in Alberta, the evolution of major companies within the gambling industry, and efforts by U.S. state regulators to rein in offshore activity and college player prop betting.

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