New Jersey: sports betting up as slots and table games fall

Sports betting set another new record in the state in December while traditional games declined year-on-year.

US.- Figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show sports betting continued to grow in December while traditional gaming suffered the effects of the pandemic.

The state’s nine casinos and three horse racing tracks that offer sports betting took in $996m in wagers last month, setting a new monthly record.

But revenue from traditional slot and table games reached just $147m in December, a decline of 29.5 per cent from the same month in 2019. November 2020 had seen the same level of revenue from these traditional verticals.

Overall, casino revenues dropped year-over-year at all nine casinos apart from Hard Rock Atlantic City, which managed to drive revenues up by 1.7 per cent year-on-year to $26.3m.

The property that slid the most was Caesars Entertainment’s Harrah’s, which reported a 52.7 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue to $12.1m in December.

Atlantic City casinos have been operating at 25 per cent capacity since reopening to the public in July.

In the third quarter of 2020, casinos showed a 37.2 per cent decline in revenues in comparison with the same period in 2019.