SportingPedia, a sports betting site, revealed that $10.54 billion had been wagered in 2022, resulting in total revenue of $798.84 million. This means, on average, each Garden State sports bettor wagered around $1,138 on sports in 2022.
Historically, New Jersey has been the largest gambling market outside of Nevada. In its first year of legalized sports betting (2011), Garden State gamblers wagered over $2.9 billion in sports bets, earning the state $200 million in revenue.
In May 2019, New Jersey sports betting even surpassed Nevada by $1.5 million in revenue. The following year, the state placed a record-breaking total handle of $6 billion, breaking Nevada’s previous record by $600 million.
The numbers continue to grow over the years, with the total handle reaching $10.9 billion and a revenue of $815 million in 2021. In addition, over $1.3 billion was wagered in January 2022 alone, earning the state over $60 million in revenue.
To date, New Jersey has made around $310 million in tax revenue from sports betting companies residing and operating in the state.
Impactful supporting factors
According to research by BroadbandNow, New Jersey is ranked No 2. at the “Best States for Broadband, 2023,” providing Garden State residents with 98.5% of fixed wireless broadband, 18.8% of low-priced wired broadband, and 69.7% fiber-optic service.
The state also has over 2.14 million square feet of data center space in Northern New Jersey, which supports the online sports betting system.
Apart from infrastructure, New Jersey is located at a prime point between two major markets, New York City and Philadelphia.
DraftKings, one of the biggest sports betting companies in the country, reported that the top four mobile betting locations in 2018 were all located near New York City. The Garden State is also home to six professional sports teams, which are the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the MLS New York Red Bulls, and the NSWL’s Gotham FC. It also houses the practice facility of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers.
Early preparation is key to New Jersey success
New Jersey’s preparation for legal sports betting dates back to 2011. Then Gov. Chris Christie signed the bill into law, allowing retail sportsbooks in Atlantic City to legally accept wagers on sporting events from Garden State sports bettors and was the second state in the US to accept wagers legally.
This advanced preparedness helped state officials and retail sports betting companies get up and running within days of the 2011 law’s passing, with mobile app betting — the largest contributor of bets launching within days of the historic 2018 PASPA ruling, allowing individual states to decide on the legalization of sports betting.
The Garden State’s long history within the gaming industry made it no stranger to casinos and racetracks by the time legalization of sports betting hit. This made it easier to organize brick-and-mortar sports betting shops and secure online and mobile sports betting licenses, and the result is New Jersey is the No. 2 sports betting state per person per capita in the USA.
