New Jersey Sports Betting Revenues Are Slowly Rebounding

• New Jersey’s sports betting industry had a $117.8 million betting handle and earned $9.9 million in revenue in May.
• These totals represent massive month-over-month increases from April, indicating that New Jersey sportsbooks are on the path to financial recovery from COVID-19.
• Major North American sports leagues are set to resume play in late July, which means greatly increased revenues from betting odds are likely on the horizon.
• New Jersey casinos are also set to begin reopening next weekend.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – After the coronavirus pandemic led to an unprecedented drop in sports betting revenues in March and April, New Jersey sportsbooks are beginning to get back on track after experiencing a huge crash because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In May, New Jersey handed a collective $117.8 million in sports wagers in earned $9.9 million in sports betting revenue.

Those were month-over-month increases of 116% and 276%, respectively.

As usual, Resorts Casino and New Meadowlands Park accounted for the bulk of revenues with their respective partnerships with DraftKings and FanDuel. Combined, they earned a hair under $8 million (81% of the monthly total).

Sports betting options are still extremely limited, so the sharp growth curve is reassuring. It suggests a renewed enthusiasm for betting rather than simply an increase in accessibility.

New Jersey sportsbooks should receive an additional boost as casinos are set to reopen at 25% capacity on July 2, albeit with additional social distancing and public health guidelines to protect patrons.

How Will The Return Of Sports Affect Revenues?

The biggest looming development for New Jersey sports betting revenues is the return of three major American professional sports leagues in July.

Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and the NBA are all set to begin or resume play around the end of the month. NHL teams are also set to return to training camp. on July 10, with plans to stage a full Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Obviously, this will be a massive boon for sportsbooks, which have largely been relying on mixed martial arts and foreign sports leagues to generate betting interest since the initial mid-March shutdown.

The NBA, MLB, and NHL are three of the four most popular professional sports leagues in the U.S., while MLS has a devoted following of its own. Their return will greatly excite bettors, which should lead to an increase in spending.

The return of baseball, in particular, is very encouraging because as recently as last week there was serious doubt about whether or not there would be a 2020 MLB season because of a rift between players and owners.

Instead, all signs point to a fairly full schedule of sporting events this summer.

Assuming public health efforts at mitigating the effects of COVID-19 go as planned, New Jersey’s sports betting industry should be able to recover by the beginning of the 2020 NFL season.

News tags: Coronavirus | COVID-19 | DraftKings | FanDuel | MLB | MLS | NBA | New Jersey | New Meadowlands Park | NFL | NHL | Resorts Casino | Stanley Cup