New Jersey released gaming revenue data for the month of March on April 16. The Division of Gaming Enforcement reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) from casinos, online gambling, and sports betting at $526.1 million for the month; it was up 3.7 percent over March 2024. The nine casino-hotels in Atlantic City generated $230.9 million in GGR, 3.7 percent less than in 2024. Online gambling generated $243.9 million, 23.7 percent more than in 2024, and sports betting produced $71.3 million in revenue. People in New Jersey wagered $1.1 billion on sports. In March 2024, bettors placed $1.3 billion on sporting events, resulting in $89.6 million in GGR.
On the surface, that is good news. The casino industry in New Jersey has been challenged since the advent of slot machines in Pennsylvania. Until 2007, gaming revenue in New Jersey had been growing steadily year over year since the first casino opened in 1978. Of course, in the early days, Atlantic City had absolutely no legal competition within 2,500 miles. The city had over 10 years before Indian casinos began to pop up in its market. Foxwoods opened in 1992 in Connecticut and was an instant success, but it was barely a blip to Atlantic City.
The legalization in Pennsylvania was a horse of a different color. As far back as 1978, over 50 percent of Atlantic City’s customers came from Pennsylvania. Losing those customers to local casinos was painful and unexpected. Before casinos began opening in Pennsylvania, Atlantic City operators were cavalier on the issue of competition. They said New Jersey had nothing to fear from Pennsylvania. Those simple slot-parlor casinos would only create customers for the more exotic casino-resorts in the Boardwalk City. It may have, but the casinos in Pennsylvania proved to be serious and damaging competition…