【Palms Bet】New Jersey Sees Strong Gambling Revenues to Start 2025

• New Jersey’s gambling revenue totaled $484.8 million this February
• New Jersey's online gaming revenue in February surged 14% year-over-year
• Online revenue grew 11.1%,Palms Bet but retail betting declined sharply

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) recently released its February revenue reports, and iGaming has retained its spot as the top revenue driver. New Jersey’s gambling revenue totaled $484.8 million this February – a 5.1% year-over-year increase.

Although the overall performance was slightly affected by the 12.5% drop from January, it still represented a step in the right direction for the state’s gambling industry.

iGaming leads the charge

The biggest news coming from NJDGE reports for February points to a 14% year-over-year surge in digital gaming revenue, with the figures at $207.8 million. This is only the third time that iGaming revenue topped all other segments in a month.

The bulk of the revenue, about $205.4 million, came from “other authorized games,” including online slots. This is as an additional $2.4 million was brought in by peer-to-peer poker, representing a modest 2.6% increase.

FanDuel and Golden Nugget Atlantic City continue to hold out firmly at the top, combining for $44.1 million in revenue – up by 10.3%.

DraftKings and Resorts Casino Hotel are a notch lower, generating $43.1 million. While Borgata itself posted $20 million, Caesars and Tropicana Atlantic City made up the top five with $14 million. These figures show that more players are going for digital betting, and this has resulted in robust growth for the state’s online gaming market.

Sports betting – Mixed results, but overall encouraging performance 

Whilesportsbooks in New Jerseysaw its revenue go up by 8.9% year-over-year to $73.6 million, the overall handle dropped slightly. Online sports betting revenue posted an 11.1% increase to $72.7 million, while the revenue from retail sports wagering tanked heavily by 60.9% to just $824 thousand. As a whole, players wagered $988.9 million in sports in February. While this figure dropped 8.5% when placed side-by-side with last year and 14.2% from January, the monthly hold rate was still 7.44%.

FanDuel and Meadowlands generated $33.9 million – a 27.2% year-over-year increase, making them the top-performing operators in the online gaming segment. DraftKings and Resorts Casino Hotel recorded $20.3 million, a 16.4% drop from last year. BetMGM and Borgata posted $5.9 million, marking a significant 41.9% increase, and Fanatics along with Bally’s captured $3.5 million. Bet365 and Hard Rock also posted a $4 million gain that was most notably up by 35.1%.

Land-based casino revenue dips

While digital gaming showed good results, land-based casinos met with a different fate. The total revenue generated by these brick-and-mortar casinos fell by 3.8% to $203.5 million. The revenue from slot machines and table games dropped by 4.3% to $152.1 million, and table games revenue dropped by 2.5% to $51.4 million.

As for brick-and-mortar casinos, Borgata led the way with a revenue of $49.9 million, representing a 6.9% increase. While Hard Rock reported $41.9 million, up 1.8%; and Ocean Casino collected $32.4 million, a 4.3% increase. These figures paint a vivid picture of an increasing lean towards digital gaming, although land-based casinos remain relevant.

Tax revenue and the regulatory outlook

New Jersey raked in $53.3 million in gambling taxes for February. Of this amount, iGaming accounted for $31.1 million while land-based casinos contributed a modest $12.7 million.  $9.4 million also came from online sports betting, while retail sportsbooks brought in only $161 thousand in returns.

Tax hikes are currently being planned for New Jersey’s operators. Governor Phil Murphy is mulling an increase to 25% for sports betting and iGaming tax rates, up from the current rates of 13% and 15% respectively. These plans have been met with fierce criticism by such industry groups as the Sports Betting Alliance, consisting of heavyweights like BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics Sportsbook and FanDuel.

They have warned that higher taxes could drive customers to unregulated or offshore operators, which would ultimately slow local investments.

Conclusion – Looking forward to the next one

As the dust settles on yet another NJDGE report, the gaming industry will be hoping for an improved performance next time out. New Jersey’s iGaming sector will be hoping to continue its fine form, following from a strong performance in February where it collected a sizable digital revenue and continued playing a leading role in overall gambling income.

Meanwhile, traditional segments like land-based casinos and sports betting reported varying levels of decline for February. These trends point to a shift in customer preferences towards online gaming. With tax debates and some key regulatory changes on the cards, New Jersey’s gaming operators must adapt and innovate for it to remain at the forefront of the U.S. gambling industry.