New Jersey sports betting operators took in an astonishing, and record-breaking, $1.3 billion in wagers during the month of October. October’s rush to the sportsbook was the second consecutive month that NJ bookmakers broke their own record, but it’s possible that October, 2021 represented the crest of the state’s sports betting wave.
With $1.3 billion in wagers, New Jersey not only broke it’s own record handle, which was set in September with $1.01 billion in wagers, but it also set the all-time US record. Of that $1.3 billion, approximately $1.2 billion was wagered online. That doesn’t really help the land-based casinos and small businesses of Atlantic City, which was part of the original idea in legalizing sports betting in the first place, but no one seems to care about that anymore anyways.
However, some industry watchers are suggesting that Garden State sports betting may have reached its all-time peak last month. By this time next year, neighboring New York State will have legalized sports betting, which will almost certainly siphon off some NJ’s players.
Sources such as Legal Sports Report also point out that October 2021 including five weekends, a fact that certainly helped the bookmaker’s bottom line. It’s worth noting that individual football wagers accounted for $500 million of the October handle, not including parlays.
In an interview with the Atlantic City Press, Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University pointed out that the good times should continue in NJ saying, “October 2021’s record sports wagering handle proves that September was not a flash in the pan, but rather the first sign of a new level of sports betting participation, at least during the NFL season.”