New Jersey recently surpassed Nevada for the sports betting capital of the United States. However, New Jersey’s upward trend has turned in the opposite direction in the month of February.
New Jersey had a great Super Bowl handle, but the rest of the month was not a standard period for the state. The February handle was still $743 million, but this number significantly decreased from the previous three months in New Jersey.
This has not caused sportsbooks to press the panic button. The decrease was expected in February by people in the sports betting market.
Waiting on $1 Billion
No state has ever experienced a $1 billion handle in a month. New Jersey seemed to be coming close to this epic margin, but they will have to wait until March to see if they can reach this goal.
The total betting handle in February was $743 million. This snapped a three-month streak where New Jersey was collecting greater than $900 million betting handles. The February numbers were released on Tuesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming.
The smaller handle was expected in NJ because it was a short month in terms of days. The Super Bowl handle could not push January to its fourth consecutive $900 million handle.
February vs. January
The February handle was down 22.5% from January’s total. In January, New Jersey collected $958.7 million, which was the second-highest month of all-time. Even though there was a decline in February, the handle was still up 50.1% from February of 2020.
This was the final significant betting month in the United States before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation. In January of 2021, New Jersey collected $82.6 million in sports betting revenue.
This also surpassed the national record by over $15 million. The state almost hit the $1 billion handle in December, collecting $996.3 in total bets. Mobile betting dominates the New Jersey market, which is no surprise in the United States.
In February, the mobile handle accounted for $689.249 million. However, the mobile handle dropped significantly in the month-to-month comparison. The mobile betting handle decreased 22.3% because the total in January was $886.5 million. It will be interesting to see if the New Jersey market surpasses $900 million in March.
Mobile betting increased .3% from January to February, one of the few growth aspects in New Jersey from month-to-month.
The Details
Sports betting revenue declined to 46.2 million. This was a 44.1% drop from January’s $82.6 million figure. It was still up 171.8% from the February 2020 handle, where the sportsbooks earned $17 million.
The total gaming revenue, which includes iGaming, was $288.3 million. This total was only down 16% from January’s $346.4 million amount. iGaming still dropped as a whole in January, which should be concerning for the state.
Sports betting revenue declined because football season ended, but iGaming is not contingent on sports. The iGaming win was $93.8 million, which was down just under 10% from January. This is not much, but it adds up at the end of the month.
