Revenues plunge as cancellations and closures see New Jersey feel the pinch

New Jersey
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Online casinos and poker rooms boomed during March in New Jersey, with closes casinos and sporting cancellations results in the region’s sportsbooks taking just a third of the expected handle.

With significant declines, as expected, felt across the Garden State’s land-based sector, igaming soared beyond previous revenue records by generating $64.8m, breaking the $55.1m figure set in January, and up 66 per cent from $39.1m a year earlier. Total gaming revenue fell 42.7 per cent from $273.7m to $156.7m.

Poker produced $3.6m in revenue, beating the previous record of $3.1m set in October 2016 as the month yielded $9.7m in state taxes. Golden Nugget continues its trend of online outgunning its land-base counterpart with $23.3m revenue, as Resorts Atlantic City also got in on the act with $13.5m.

“With Atlantic City casinos closed and sports on hiatus, the importance of online gambling and poker to the state’s gaming industry has never been greater,” explained Eric Ramsey, an analyst for PlayNJ.com

“Online casinos can’t sustain the industry forever, but those with the healthiest online products should be in the best position to emerge from these incredible circumstances. And the tax revenue from online casinos is welcome when so much pressure has been put on the state budget.”

As professional sports leagues worldwide try to figure out a way to retake the field, the loss of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament, NBA and opening of the baseball season “will not be something that New Jersey sportsbooks can make up”.

Sportsbooks collected $181.9m in bets, down 51 per cent from the $372.5m posted in March 2019 and down 63 per cent from $494.8m in February 2020. March’s handle was the smallest since sportsbooks collected $95.6 million in August 2018.

“Shutdowns from the coronavirus pandemic are affecting New Jersey’s gaming industry in ways that are unprecedented, and that will continue until the country begins to return to some semblance of normalcy,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayNJ.com.

“New Jersey’s online casinos are a boon to the gaming industry, which employs thousands and generates millions in tax revenue for the state. But it’s not enough to fully bridge the gap from the revenue lost from sportsbooks and Atlantic City’s land-based casinos.”