New Jersey wagers wane. This according to the graph for total wagers made in New Jersey’s six-month-old sportsbook market that finally stopped climbing in December and dipped in an $11,575,015 downturn.
According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) total wagers placed in the Garden State in December amounted to $319,173,548 as against the record $330,748,563 set in November with revenue concurrently, dropping from $21,243,865 in November to $20,814,222 in December.
With New Jersey (the first banned state to legalize sports betting when it was unbanned by the Supreme Court some seven months ago) currently being viewed as a sports betting flagship, some concerned questions are being asked about these latest figures by sportsbook observers, both inside and outside the state.
Cause of the New Jersey Wagers Wane
Was it a festive season slow-down with celebration party expenses and Christmas gifts taking preference with the punter’s budgets. Or November, when the NJ sports betting graph peaked, was the saturation point?
Only time will tell. The latest NJDGE’s sports betting report may help shed some light on the December wagering slump. However, inflating is the fact that NFL football, peaks with the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl final this month.
On the brighter side, the New Jersey authorities will be beaming at seeing total betting figures since the industry’s start-up in mid-2018 soar past the billion dollar mark ($1,247,290,341).
Those states still looking at or in the process and introducing sports betting, may also find it of great interest that online and mobile betting has far outpaced brick-and-mortar Casino and racecourse wagering in New Jersey.
Online betting in the state in December accounted for $241,043,289 as against the all-time low of $78,130,259 wagered in the state’s betting shops.
The total bets in 2018 amount to $501,037,729 wagered on NFL and College football. The grid-iron game was easily the state’s number 1 sports betting draw-card.
Who is the Happiest NJ Sportsbook
The happiest sportsbook operator in New Jersey in December will almost certainly be FanDuel. FanDuel is one the USA’s daily sports fantasy giants before entering the sportsbook market sometime in June last year.
Its sportsbook, based at the Meadowlands race track, produced gross revenue of $9,110,014. That’s up from $7,043,394 in November. And this increases its final 2018 revenue intake to $31,359,800. A figure which bettered the 2018 intake of previous New Jersey market leader DraftKings ($30,429,664).
DraftKings, however, remained the leader of the NJ pack in December. They came to an online and mobile wagering revenue of $6,690,969.
“December was, however, another great month for the FanDuel Sportsbook,” company spokesperson Kevin Hennessy told the media.
“We saw significant increases in revenue for our retail and online sportsbooks. Thus, delivered holiday cheer to our customers. More than half of our online sportsbook patrons benefiting from a promotional bonus in December.”
David Rebuck’s Prediction
Before the Philadelphia Eagles fell in the NFL’s Divisional playoffs, David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming enforcement, predicted that New Jersey would smash sports betting records in January if the Eagles reached the Super Bowl.
That’s no longer possible, but he remains optimistic that sports betting in New Jersey will continue to flourish in 2019.
“We know historically what the numbers are in Nevada,” he told Gambling.com this week when making comparisons with a state that has never been prohibited from sports betting and where the industry has been mature for many years.
“We feel that whatever their monthly figures are, we should be getting better and better and closer to them.
“We’re not there today, but we have more operators coming on. No reason to believe that we won’t do as well as they do on the Super Bowl and March Madness. We’ll see.”