It’s as if New Jersey had a bet with an unseen foe about how much sports betting news it could generate in seven days.
This past week, several massive names in sports betting and in the state’s casino industry made announcements regarding partnerships, platforms, and more in what turned out to be a memorable week of NJ sports betting news.
Let’s see if we can summarize it all for you:
Resorts strikes first: DraftKings, then BetStars
Resorts Casino Hotel stole the show this past week by announcing that two of its applications for online sports betting platforms were approved by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
The casinos two partners are daily fantasy sports powerhouse DraftKings and BetStars, a global brand under The Stars Group that has a presence on multiple continents.
Resorts announced the DraftKings Sportsbook app approval on Wednesday, and the BetStars approval the following day.
Then, on Monday, the official OK to launch DraftKings mobile sports betting app statewide was granted. In effect, this made DraftKings the first online sports betting app to go live outside Nevada.
In an interview with Eric Ramsey of LegalSportsReport.com, Matt Kalish, the co-founder and CRO of DraftKings, had this to say about the news:
“Really it’s just tremendously exciting that our Technology and Product and Operations teams were able to get together and get a product out to market first in New Jersey. It’s an incredible achievement.
But he also gave credit to the DGE:
“It’s also a huge testament to the regulators in Jersey. They’re looking at our product platform for the first time, and they’re kind of leading the country with the first cut of online/mobile regulations for sportsbook and trying to implement those. They’ve been extremely great to work with. We’ve had very regular meetings, touching base with them, making sure that our platform met the really high standards that they set.”
And then Caesars did some sports betting stuff
Not to be outdone, Caesars Entertainment launched sportsbooks at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City and Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel & Casino this past week, breaking what seemed to be radio silence on the sportsbook front.
The two new sportsbooks were the fifth and sixth to launch in the state in the past month. The other four include two casinos (Ocean Resort Casino, Borgata) and two horse tracks (Monmouth Park, Meadowlands Racetrack).
In addition to those two startling debuts, Caesars announced on Friday it would offer an app that combines sports betting and an online casino, allowing users to seamlessly switch between the two.
MGM teased its NJ sports betting app
In a national sense, MGM Resorts International may have won the “biggest news of the week” award when the NBA announced it made MGM the league’s official sports betting partner.
However, the real news for New Jersey emerged at the end of MGM’s press conference about the deal, at which point they casually announced its playMGM online sports betting platform would launch “by the end of the week.”
This, however, did not come to pass. And as noted above, DraftKings beat all the Atlantic City casinos to the punch with its sportsbook app release.
Looking ahead to the rest of August
Be that as it may, it was a sign that things are rapidly changing in the NJ online sports betting market. We expect new apps and sites to launch in quick succession — or at least as soon as the DGE grants the soft-launch approval.
There’s no reason to believe that sports betting news will cease this week either.
The majority of Atlantic City’s casinos have yet to make announcements about sportsbooks, whether land-based or online, which presents a plethora of opportunities for new developments.
For now, though, one thing is clear: Sports betting is emerging at breakneck speed in New Jersey.