NJ is the first US state to take $1bn in sports bets in a single month

Author:

Michael McKean

Publish Date:

21/10/2021

Experiences:

Huge sports and casino fan

Experiences:

Huge sports and casino fan

Michael McKean is an experienced writer with a portfolio that includes work on the subjects of sport, gambling, travel and finance. With a background rooted in journalism, Michael first ventured into the professional writing world based in Switzerland, where he wrote for a number of language and travel sites and magazines before moving into the world of sports writing and gambling sites.

As an avid soccer fan, who follows everything from the Scottish lower leagues to the European elites, he has earned himself a solid reputation as a reliable football betting tipster and predictor. Outside of work, Michael has always gotten involved with grassroutes football everywhere he has worked and lived - UK, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Brazil - and still isn’t shy when it comes to pulling the boots on himself. As well as soccer, he has also developed a love of North American sports, particularly ice hockey - a love which began in Switzerland and saw him venture across the pond to follow the NHL. Moving away from dry land, he’s also a keen longboard surfer and is happiest when writing with a view of the ocean.

Just over three years on from sports wagering being legalized at federal level in the USA, New Jersey has become the first state to pass the $1billion sports betting intake mark in a single month.

The data was made public on Monday, and revealed that Garden State’s sports betting handle reached the sum total of $1.01billion in September.

This figure is the intake of sports bets from the three-state race tracks and the nine Atlantic City casinos combined.

Of the total $1.01billion bets taken, the casinos and tracks made somewhere around $82million in revenue.

Mobile wagering key to NJ success

Since being the key player in getting the PASPA lifted back in 2018, New Jersey has embraced the concept of online and mobile wagering. In doing so, they have quickly grown the largest online sports wagering market in the country by a distance.

There are currently 16 online sportsbooks available to New Jersyians aged 21 and over, including BetMGM.

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In essentially becoming the creator of online sports wagering in New Jersey, the Garden State has continued to race ahead of other legal US gambling states. As a result, sports wagering is now more readily available in New Jersey than it is in Nevada.

Despite being home to Las Vegas, the world’s most famous casino city, Nevada hasn’t yet adopted online or mobile sports wagering.

Proximity to NYC also a factor

New Jersey’s sports wagering revenue has been high in general and is growing rapidly. September also marked a 40% growth in sports bets placed compared to last year.

As well as them being the first state to adopt online wagering, geography has also played a part in NJ’s sports wagering success. Under the current rules, you don’t have to be a New Jersey resident in order to place a mobile sports bet - you only have to be over the age of 21 and inside state lines.

This, therefore, opens the up a large market in New York City, with 8.5 million potential bettors sitting just over the Hudson River.

The fact that the MetLife Stadium, which is home to both the Jets and the Giants, is located in East Rutherford, NJ has undoubtedly helped to boost the number of wagers placed in the opening weeks of the NFL 2021/22 season.

NFL season starting boosts betting

The fact that this single-month sports betting handle has happened in September is no surprise. The start of the football season has seen a boost in wagering, and with mobile betting apps and websites more readily available than ever before in NJ, surpassing the $1billion handle figure could perhaps have been easily predicted.

New Jersey continues to be the country’s sports betting trailblazer

The very fact that sports wagering is now legal at federal level is all down to New Jersey. The state won a case in the US Supreme Court back in 2018, which resulted in the PASPA being lifted.

That meant that sports wagering was essentially legalized at federal level, not just in the state of New Jersey. This left it up to individual state governments to decide on their own rules and laws surrounding gambling legislation.

As a result almost half of US states now allow some form of legal sports wagering as of October 2021.