The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has released a report showing how the state casino industry performed in January 2023. From the looks of it, the state seems to be doing as well as it was last year. In fact, the state will likely generate more revenue this year than last year.
The gaming revenue for January was just shy of $437 million generated in December last year. New Jersey kicked off the year by generating $436.9 million from land-based casinos, online gaming, and sports betting.
This was a 3.9 percent drop from December. But, it was a 14.5 percent year-over-year increase from $381.7 generated by casino operators in January 2022. The month-over-month decline could be a result of a drop in sports betting revenue which was just above $72 million in January.
Online casinos generated a record high of slightly over $151 million. Meanwhile, online poker generated 42.7 million. This was a 24.8 percent increase from December and the highest generated amount since July 2021 when casinos generated $3.1 million.
The state also got a significant tax revenue. It earned $22.9 million from online gaming and $13 million from land-based casinos in Atlantic City. Meanwhile, sportsbooks created $9.4 million in tax revenue for the state, hitting over $300 million in tax revenue since 2018.
Most Online Casinos Started 2023 Brightly
Among all New Jersey casinos, Tropicana recorded the highest revenue increase of 32.5 percent. It generated $7.8 million, the best since May 2022. Hard Rock also recorded a 13.4 percent increase, generating over $6 million since June 2022.
Meanwhile, Ocean Casino went up by 11.8 percent to generate $3.9 million. This was an all-time high for the casino, and the fourth consecutive month to generate a record high.
Resorts, Golden Nugget and Borgata generated over $40 million each. These casinos offer online gaming, which contributed to the high income.
Resorts, which is in association with a sportsbook called DraftKings, and a poker room known as PokerStars generated $40.2 million. Despite hitting the 40 million mark, this was a 0.4 percent drop.
Generating over $1 million from poker helped the casino hit the 40 million mark. It was the first time the casino generated a high poker rake since July 2020. This was also a 76.1 percent month-over-month increase.
Golden Nugget generated $40.6 million. This was a 7.4 percent increase from December. Golden Nugget previously generated a record high of over $38.4 million in October 2022.
Meanwhile, Borgata was saved by its poker rake to hit the 40 million mark. The casino has generated over $40 million in the past seven months.
It got $820,000 from poker rake to generate over $40.8 million in December. Yet, this was still a 6.7 percent decline from December.
Another big brand in the state is Caesars. Although it generated over $8 million, it recorded the biggest month-over-month drop of 13.5 percent.
Good Overall Performance
Five out of nine land-based casinos in Atlantic City reported a revenue decline. Still, they generated good revenues.
For instance, Borgata dropped over $2 million, generating a total of $58.4 million from its online and land-based arms. Hard Rock came in second with a revenue of $35.9 million. This was a 4.1 percent decrease from December 2022.
Atlantic City casinos generated $211.7 million in January. This was a 1.8 percent drop from December.
