N.J. takes in $40.6M in sports bets

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. » Sports betting is off and running in New Jersey, with three casinos and two racetracks taking in $40.6 million in wagers in July, the first full month it was legal.

Those figures were part of a report that showed that Hard Rock debuted as Atlantic City’s No. 3 casino in terms of gambling revenue out of the nine casinos in town. Ocean Resort came in last in its first full month of operation.

New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case in May clearing the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting if they choose. Since betting began in New Jersey on June 14, more than $57 million in bets has been taken in, and additional companies continue to join a rapidly expanding market.

July’s numbers were mainly posted by the Borgata and Ocean Resort casinos, and the Monmouth Park and Meadowlands racetracks. Bally’s casino began taking sports bets on July 30.

Since then, Harrah’s and Resorts have started taking sports bets as well, but their revenue will not be reported until mid-September.

The Meadowlands, about 6 miles (9.66 kilometers) from New York City in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants play, took in $1.35 million in July, having started taking bets on July 14. Monmouth Park, which started taking bets June 14, took in $856,280 in July, and has won $3.1 million since mid-June.

Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, which runs the sports books at Monmouth Park and the Ocean Resort Casino, said he is “thrilled with the early numbers at both Monmouth and Ocean. They are clearly exceeding our expectations of where we thought we would be at this early stage. There’s no doubt the New Jersey sports betting market has a lot of potential.”

The Borgata took in $562,830 in sports betting in July, and Ocean Resort handled just over $1 million. Bally’s did just under $18,000 in the two days it took sports bets in July.

Sports betting generated $325,646 in state taxes in July.

Figures released Tuesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the Borgata, Ocean Resort and Bally’s, and the two tracks saw gross sports betting revenue of $3.8 million on those bets.

But regulators caution that bets involving future outcomes, such as the winner of football’s Super Bowl, won’t be paid out for months.

Of completed events that

AP PHOTO/WAYNE PARRY This Aug. 1 2018 photo shows a board at Harrah’s casino in Atlantic City, N.J., listing the odds on pro football games in the first week of the NFL season. Resorts casino will begin taking sports bets in person on Wednesday, Aug. 15, becoming the fifth Atlantic City casino to do so.