Las Vegas Review-Journal

New Jersey casinos, track take in $16 million in sports bets

- By Wayne Parry The Associated Press

OCEANPORT, N.J. — Two casinos and a racetrack in New Jersey took in $16.4 million in sports bets during the first two weeks such wagers were legal in the state.

Figures released Thursday by the state Division of Gaming Enforcemen­t show the Borgata and Ocean Resort casinos, in Atlantic City, and the Monmouth Park racetrack, in Oceanport, saw gross sports betting revenue of nearly $3.5 million on those bets.

But regulators caution that bets involving future outcomes, such as the winner of baseball’s World Series or football’s Super Bowl, won’t be paid out for months. Just over $1 million was wagered on such bets.

The casinos and the track are the only places legally taking sports bets right now. Of completed events that were the subject of betting, they retained 7.8 percent of the amount wagered, or about $1.2 million.

Sports betting generated just under $300,000 in tax revenue for New Jersey during the first two weeks. The report covers only the period from when sports betting began on June 14 through the end of the month.

Monmouth Park took the lion’s share of sports betting revenue, at nearly $2.3 million. The Borgata saw $986,831, and Ocean Resort, which opened on June 28 and had only two days of sports betting last month, saw $192,671. Regulators did not break down the total amounts bet at each outlet.

The CEO of William Hill US, which runs the sports book at Monmouth Park, heralded legal sports betting in New Jersey and said he “can’t wait until football season.”

“While it’s still early, we’re obviously off to a great start,” CEO Joe Asher said. “We always knew there was a big appetite for legal sports betting during the years of litigation, and now it is being proven.”

The Borgata’s president, Marcus Glover, said he’s encouraged by the response to sports betting during a time when baseball and soccer’s World Cup were the main offerings.

“There’s a lot of pent-up demand waiting for the NFL,” he said.

In its first two weeks of sports betting, New Jersey took in more than twice as much in bets ($16.4 million) as Delaware did in its first 20 days (just over $7 million).

The industry is set to expand soon. The Meadowland­s Racetrack, in East Rutherford, just 6 miles from New York City, will start taking sports bets this Saturday. And Atlantic City’s Hard Rock casino is awaiting approval for its deal to offer sports betting with British gambling firm Bet365.

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