Resorts Digital Gaming is looking to grant a third New Jersey skin to a well-known international sport betting operator. Resorts Digital is presently in talks with an unidentified international sports betting firm, which will soon operate under Resorts’ license in the Garden State. Resorts said that the deal will take effect immediately once all the necessary approvals have been given by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Once the deal is finalized, Resorts Digital is expected to boast one of the most diverse sports betting portfolios and offerings in the New Jersey sports betting market. New Jersey licensees are only allowed up to 3 sports betting skin so this deal will free up its third skin, leaving the Resorts brand to concentrate on its primary casino customers.
Resorts partners with 2 other operators namely Flutter Entertainment’s Fox Bet and DraftKings. Owing to this pending licensing deal, Resorts Digital will cease offering sports betting on its resortscasino.com site. Its customers, however, will still be allowed to continue playing the range of table games, live dealer products, and online slots available on the online casino.
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Powering Down the Site
Resorts Casino powered down its website earlier this month on February 14th. As mentioned above, even though the site will no longer continue accepting sports bets, its customers will still be allowed to play interactive slots and table games. Punters in New Jersey will continue to have access to the site until March 1st, 2022.
According to Resorts, all outstanding wagers will be honored and settled once all the sporting events have been finalized. If there are any remaining balances, they will be given back to the customer via their preferred withdrawal method. Even though the sportsbook will no longer be operating, the iGaming vertical will still continue to generate revenue.
Indeed, Resorts Casino online generates more revenue compared to its brick-and-mortar casinos property in AC. Via the brand’s Resorts Digital interactive unit, the online casino reported an iGaming and mobile sports betting Gross Gaming Revenue exceeding $450.7 million last year. Resorts Casino’s physical floor and sportsbook, on the other hand, only managed $168.6 million.
Last year, Resorts Digital was ranked second among the 8 iGaming licenses that operate in New Jersey. MGM Resorts or Borgata came in at first place, managing to generate approximately $1 billion online. Along with its iGaming site, the gaming license for Resorts will be extended to 3rd party operators Fox Bet, Barstool Sportsbook, and DraftKings.
New Jersey Continues to Break iGaming Records
New Jersey’s online casinos and poker rooms continue to perform impressively by breaking records. Casinos and poker rooms in the Garden State reported revenue of $137.8 million in January, which was an increase of more than 33% year on year. This year, iGaming operators in New Jersey have continued to generate high sports betting and iGaming revenues, and the trend will likely persist all through the year.
In January, sports betting handle amounted to $1.35 billion, thus setting a new record for the state. Even though neighboring New York also recently debuted its sports betting market, this doesn’t seem to have impacted the success of New Jersey’s market just yet. In fact, New Jersey’s performance has exceeded all expectations set by pundits by posting more than 10% in handle compared to December’s $1.2 billion.
January even saw the Garden State beat its previous all-time handle record of $1.3 billion, which was set in October last year. From October’s record-breaking handle, the state generated $60.2m in gross revenue. However, in January, the number was higher at $82.4 million. Online sportsbooks accounted for the majority of the bets placed.
In particular, online sportsbooks took in $1.2 billion in wagers, which represented at least 90% of the total handle for January. Retail sportsbooks, on the other hand, produced $139 million in bets. Even though New York sports betting has surpassed all expectations, New Jersey’s sports betting market still seems to be holding strong.
January’s good handle was made possible by the busy NFL season that saw billions in Super Bowl wagers placed in various states. According to data shared by the NJDGE punters in the Garden State bet more than $340 million on football although basketball also attracted a good number of bets- $553.7 million to be exact. In total, sports betting action in January generated $9.3 million in both local and state taxes.
Online casinos and poker rooms also performed well as they managed to exceed December’s previous revenue by 3% or $5 million. In particular, online casinos produced $135.3 million in revenue, which was an increase of more than 34% compared to last year’s take of $101 million. In terms of online revenue, Borgata emerged as the leader of the revenue table with a revenue of $39.1 million in January.
Golden Nugget Online Gaming came in second place with $36.5 million while Resorts Digital, on the other hand, produced $33 million. In total, the iGaming sector in New Jersey produced $24.1 million in local and state taxes. No matter how much growth the sports betting market in New Jersey experiences, online casinos in the state will likely keep attracting new customers.
In the last 2 years, the revenue generated from online casinos has become extremely crucial for the state’s tax collection process. Traditional brick-and-mortar casinos were not left behind either. Combined, the 9 hotel-casino properties generated $183.6 million in total casino wins, which was an increase of 15% year on year.
Once more, Borgata emerged as the leader, managing to record an excess of $48m in revenue. Hard Rock Casino, on the other hand, came in second place with an impressive handle of $34.7 million while Oceans Casino produced $24.1 million in third place. Ultimately, this busy sports calendar in the first 3 months of the year will go a long way in helping both online gambling and sports betting to keep growing.
