The sports betting revenue Friday as the Garden State sportsbooks cooled off from their record-setting start to the year.
The 6.3% hold on $1.08 billion handle was down close to 3.7 percentage points from January, when operators thrashed the public to collect $170.8 million in winnings — the fourth-highest monthly total nationwide since sports betting became available on a state-by-state basis outside Nevada in 2018.
February’s total, though, was still 23.7% higher than the $54.6 million in AGR reported for February 2023. Operators claimed $8.5 million in revenue from Super Bowl LVIII compared to $12.8 million the year prior.
Handle was up 27.6% versus the previous February as the Garden State’s $2.8 billion worth of wagers in the first two months is running 45.1% ahead of last year’s pace. While February’s operator revenue plunged 60.4% from January, the year-to-date total of $238.3 million is up a robust 87.7% from 2023.
The state collected $9.1 million in tax revenue from operator winnings, raising the total from the first two months to $31.3 million. That is $14.8 million ahead of last year’s pace through combined January and February totals.
Four licensees post losses on the mobile side 3r3y55
More than $1.04 billion was wagered via betPARX are licensed through the harness track, and February’s losses were nearly double the $1.2 million that bettors came out ahead in January.
SportTrade, which operates via Bally’s, posted its largest monthly loss as bettors came out $413,895 ahead and wiped out all but $168,000 of its January revenue. Fellow betting exchange platform Prophet also took a six-figure loss for February, paying out $406,684 above its intake. That put Prophet in a slight deficit for 2024 as it’s now down $34,929.
The two mobile books licensed to Golden Nugget — its own platform and Betway — posted a loss of $158,683, knocking it $91,211 into the red for 2024.
The trio of online sportsbooks licensed to the Meadowlands — PointsBet — paced all venues with $33.5 million. That was less than one-third the $109.3 million haul it made in January that powered the record-setting amount for the state.
DraftKings had its month-over-month revenue slip 40% to $24.2 million after suring $40 million in winnings for just the third time overall in January.
Caesars digs itself a deeper hole for retail betting 1y2x56
There were three brick-and-mortar venues that had monthly losses for February, with two — Caesars and Resorts — falling into a deeper hole after January losses.
Bettors came out $128,200 ahead at Caesars, putting its deficit at $517,000, while the $97,700 loss posted by Resorts leaves it down $233,500 for the first two months of the year.
Tropicana was the other retail book to end February with a loss as the betting public came away $10,387 ahead. The Meadowlands ed for nearly 75% of the $2.1 million in retail sportsbook revenue for the month with close to $1.6 million, while Monmouth Park was a distant second with $259,500.
All-time retail sportsbook revenue in New Jersey inched over $300 million with February’s total as the venues have claimed $6 million to start 2024.
