Sports-betting’s 10-month-old upstart New Jersey is set to overtake long-established Nevada as America’s richest betting state.
And that this could transpire as early as next year is the firm belief of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
Only 10 months ago, Murphy, it was who placed New Jersey’s first legal wager.
This was a month after the US Supreme Court had thrown out the 1992 PASPA law prohibiting sports betting.
Nevada was one of two or three US states where PASPA never applied. It had, in the meantime, been operating sportsbook unhindered for many years and thus had a big start on New Jersey.
Its well-established sportsbooks took in over $5 billion in sports bets in 2018.
NJ’s sportsbooks brought in $2.3 billion in just 10 months
Against this, New Jersey’s fledgling sports betting industry brought in more than $2.3 billion in handle in just 10 months. This despite the fact only a few of its 14 sportsbook start-ups were operating for all that time.
Led by sports fantasy giant DraftKings, New Jersey’s sportsbooks began opening in mid-June last year. They were still doing so this month with the launch of the Resorts Casino.com sports book.
Furthermore, mobile wagering in the Garden State only went live in August. As the numbers have shown, this is clearly the way to go. Since then more than 60 per in New Jersey handle has been coming in via the internet.
Murphy’s confident prediction at the Betting on Sports America conference this week was not without a firm foundation.
“Nevada is clearly in our sights. We can overtake it as early as next year,” he said – and with good reason.
New Jersey has three times the population of Nevada
To start with, New Jersey’s population is nearly three times the size of Nevada’s. Add to this the huge numbers of people traveling in and out of the state each day from neighboring giants like New York.
Remember too that Philadelphia aside, New York and NJ’S other neighbors do not yet have legal sports betting services. Sports bets made via the internet and across state lines are currently illegal. New Jersey’s close proximity to New York, therefore, makes it highly convenient to would-be punters.
As many as 30 of the US’s 50 states are currently looking into sports betting. However, along with NJ and Nevada, it’s legal only in Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
None have been as successful as New Jersey, however, clearly because they delayed or have failed to legalize online betting.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reports that 63 percent of bets in 2018 were made online. During the first quarter of 2019 that has now risen to 80 percent.
New Jersey has a sports betting tax of 8.5 percent on Casino and Race Track betting-window wagers and 13 percent on internet bets. In 2018’s 10 months it earned the State more than $10.4 million. This could easily double in 2019.
