It’s difficult to keep up with how many legal, regulated mobile sportsbooks there are in New Jersey these days, considering all the new launches accompanying the start of the college football and NFL seasons.
Just in the past month, Barstool, Superbook, and Betway have joined the party. Australian-based PlayUp, meanwhile, is known to be in a “soft launch,” with only a technical detail or two to work out before final approval.
So for the moment, the number of sportsbooks in the state stands at — roughly — 22.
How much larger can this pie become? Each of the nine Atlantic City casinos and three state racetracks can have up to three mobile “skins” partners operating sportsbooks.
But Caesars Entertainment operates three casinos — Caesars, Harrah’s, and Tropicana — while Monmouth Park, Ocean Casino, and Resorts all have a partnership with William Hill US.
And since the William Hill brand has just been absorbed by Caesars, the answer about the number of future sites is …. not quite clear until all the dust settles.
Here’s the NJ sportsbook scorecard
Any review of the state’s sportsbooks has to begin with the Meadowlands Racetrack, which with its online partners FanDuel and PointsBet produced $245.2 million in revenue in the first seven months of 2021. That’s more than half of the industry’s $423.3 million tally from sports wagering.
The state Division of Gaming Enforcement doesn’t break down the numbers by sportsbook, but there is no doubt that FanDuel, which has a branded sportsbook at the track, takes in the lion’s share of the dollars.
Superbook, a prominent player on the Westgate property in Las Vegas as the city’s largest sportsbook, quietly went live last week as the Meadowlands’ third and final “skins” partner.
Resorts Digital is next in 2021 revenue at $82.8 million, with DraftKings — FanDuel’s archrival in daily fantasy sports and now in traditional sports betting — accounting for the bulk of the revenue. FOX Bet and Resorts’ own mobile app are the other two skins.
Borgata, easily the Atlantic City casino industry’s leading player on the brick-and-mortar side, is settling for third on the sports betting side with 2021 revenue of $43.5 million. That comes from a combination of BetMGM and Borgata’s own app.
Monmouth Park is next at $18.8 million, through its deals with theScore Bet, the PlaySugarhouse brand, and William Hill US — which until recently ran the Jersey Shore thoroughbred racetrack’s on-site sportsbook as well.
Ocean Casino checks in so far in 2021 at $16.4 million via its partners William Hill and Tipico.
Many smaller players in NJ
Hard Rock, at $7.6 million, heads the lower tier of books in the state via partnerships with Bet365 and Unibet as well as from its own sportsbook app.
Caesars, which recently launched a massive national marketing campaign that includes wall-to-wall commercials on many New York-area sporting event broadcasts, so far in 2021 has produced just $3 million in revenue via WynnBet, 888sport, and its own site.
Tropicana casino, which has had a deal with William Hill, has reported $1.4 million in 2021 revenue through July.
Bally’s, which is kicking off a $100 million renovation designed to restore the casino to at least some of its former glory, has totaled $1.2 million this year from its casino sportsbook.
Golden Nugget claims a modest $849,000 via a partnership with BetAmerica as well as its own app, with Betway numbers being added to the fold in the next revenue report.
Freehold Raceway’s $778,000 figure comes from its on-site Parx-branded sportsbook, with just-arrived Barstool likely to boost that number considerably from now on.
Harrah’s, also part of the overall Caesars Entertainment umbrella, has had on-site sportsbook revenue of $530,000.
As occurred with Caesars buying William Hill US, it is likely that larger fish will buy up smaller ones in coming years, keeping the number of unique sportsbooks fluid. It seems unlikely that in the long run, there will be more than two dozen sportsbooks, even though a full three dozen are permitted by state law.
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