It was a busy week for the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Four more Atlantic City casinos entered applications to offer sports betting at their properties:
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- Resorts
- Bally’s
- Harrah’s
- Golden Nugget
The four properties have applied to offer sports betting both in-person at sportsbooks and through mobile platforms, according to an Associated Press article.
Two casinos and two racetracks already offer sports betting:
- Borgata
- Ocean Resort Casino
- The Meadowlands
- Monmouth Park
What to expect in the coming months based on NJ rules
Per the FAQ the DGE offers regarding sports betting, all of the casinos mentioned above will have to provide a physical sportsbook at which patrons can make bets.
The DGE calls these “lounges”:
“The holder of a sports pool license shall be required to establish and maintain a first-class sports wagering lounge.”
There is an exception to the rule. As an example, any of the casinos listed above could launch an online sports betting site without having a physical location for nine months. This rule is in place to allow for time to build a sportsbook.
Because the applications have yet to be approved, it’s hard to tell
Summary of where NJ casinos stand with sports betting
The state has nine casinos and four racetracks.
At the time of publishing, here is where those properties stand:
- Borgata: Sportsbook up and running
- Hard Rock: Application in progress
- ORC: Sportsbook up and running
- Tropicana: No application
- Bally’s: Application in progress
- Harrah’s: Application in progress
- Caesars: Application in progress
- Resorts: Application in progress
- Golden Nugget: Application in progress
- Monmouth Park: Sportsbook up and running
- The Meadowlands: Sportsbook up and running
The anomaly on the list is Tropicana because they have yet to apply for a sports betting license. This is due to the fact that the property’s owners, Tropicana Entertainment, have sold their portfolio of seven U.S. casinos to Eldorado Resorts.
There is no doubt among experts that Eldorado will apply for a sports betting license at some point.
Revenue expectations from sports betting are muddled. In June, only two Atlantic City casinos had sportsbooks running, Borgata and ORC.
Borgata opened its sports book halfway through the month (June 14). The casino brought in $986, 831 in sports wagering revenue.
ORC, on the other hand, was open for three days an earned $192,671.
Generating any sort of projection for how revenue numbers play out once all casino sportsbooks are open is virtually impossible.
June’s revenue numbers included two major events, MLB games and the World Cup. Absent from these bets, of course, is the NBA and NFL regular seasons.
With the NFL regular season approaching in September, there won’t be enough time for any of the casinos to build a new sportsbook. However, we expect to see a significant number of properties launching online betting as they wait to open their land-based sportsbook.