New Jersey has quickly surpassed Nevada to become the poster child for online gambling in the US since legalizing it in 2013. Today, the Garden State boasts dozens of licensed online casinos, poker sites, and online sportsbooks, which collectively raked in close to $148.7 million in revenues for October 2020, according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Combined revenue from New Jersey online casinos and poker sites cracked the $90-million mark in October 2020, up from a record high of $87,633,697 in September. The online sports betting handle for the state hit $800 million for the first time in October, generating record revenue for both sportsbook operators and state coffers.
In comparison, Illinois sports bettors wagered over $507 million on various sports markets, generating a little shy of $3 million in taxes for the Land of Lincoln in October 2020. That marked a jump of over 65 percent in sports betting handle from $307 million plunked down by bettors in September, which is quite remarkable given that this is just the fourth full month since the first legal sports bet was wagered in early March 2020.
After a fanfare launch largely overshadowed by the pandemic, Illinois has quickly risen to become the Midwest’s sports betting mecca, surpassing early adopters like Indiana, Michigan, and Iowa. But Illinois sports betting revenue is a far cry from what New Jersey is pulling in from its robust online gambling market.
The reason behind this significant revenue margin is that Illinois has legalized sports betting online but not online gambling. That being said, here are five notable lessons Illinois can learn from New Jersey when it comes to online gambling.
– Online Gambling is truly the Future of the Industry
Since the first riverboat casino started accepting eager bettors in Alton in 1991, the Illinois gambling market has always been marred by legal and political tussles. Almost a decade ago, Illinois legislators voted to legalize video slots and poker, predicting that the move would mint billions of dollars for the state.
Now, there are over 30,000 video poker and slot machines operating outside of the state’s seven big casinos, but the $31-billion paycheck envisioned by the lawmakers has remained a pipe dream. Interestingly, New Jersey was sailing on the same boat in the early 2010s as Atlantic City’s foot-traffic and retail gambling revenues started to plummet.
So, how did New Jersey reform and managed to become America’s superstar of gambling? The Garden State’s secret is not so secret after all: online gambling!
That’s right; while Las Vegas morphed into a family holiday destination and a 24/7 party hotspot, New Jersey decided to double down on online gambling, and it has paid off big time. This is one big leaf that Illinois can take out of New Jersey’s book.
Just take a look at the year-over-year revenue growth for New Jersey’s online gambling market. In practically every pandemic-hit month of 2020, NJ online casinos have brought in more than double what they did the previous year. They continued this upward trajectory even after Atlantic City retail casinos resumed operation.
Even more remarkable, New Jersey annual growth numbers for online betting were 62 percent last year. Given that the NJ Jersey market is well past its honeymoon, the growth figures for Illinois will be dramatically high if the state chooses to give online gambling the green light.
Sure, Illinois has some of the best land-based casinos, but the real future of the industry certainly lies in online gambling as clearly evident from the case of New Jersey.
The good thing is that there’s already a growing number of Illinois-facing online casinos that offer a wide array of casino bonuses, lovely selection of games, and even live-dealer gaming. Go ahead and visit sites like Slots.Ag to check out what great online casinos currently accept Illinois players.
– Partnership between Land-Based and Online Casinos is Crucial
New Jersey was among the first states to tie up its online gambling to existing retail gaming establishments, and this has seen the market explode in both popularity and revenue. The move by the state saw land-based casinos like Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tropicana Atlantic City, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Resort, Caesars Palace Atlantic City, and Golden Nugget Atlantic City partner with major online gambling operators, such as 888 Holding PLC, FanDuel, DraftKings, and William Hill.
For instance, Tropicana Atlantic City is a sub-licensee for several online casinos operating legally in the New Jersey market, including its own Tropicana Online Casino and Virgin Online Casino. There’s a sound reason why this two-tier model works.
For starters, players of BetMGM can fund their online casino accounts by simply walking up to the cashier at the Borgata Hotel and Casino SPA in Atlanta City. They can also make withdrawals using this method, making it easy for New Jersey players to indulge in online gambling safely and somewhat anonymously.
– Mobile Betting is a Crowd-Pleaser
New Jersey’s local partnership technique has already been replicated by Illinois sportsbooks. The mobile sports betting behemoth DraftKings just recently partnered with Casino Queen, which is nestled in downstate East St. Louis. On the other hand, DraftKings’ biggest rival, FanDuel, joined hands with East Peoria’s Par-A-Dice to accept sports bets online from Illinois mobile bettors.
PointsBet has also Illinois-faced sports wagering app in conjunction with its local partner Hawthorne Race Course. Similarly, Twin Rivers, which recently bought Tropicana Casino in Indiana from Caesars and Jumer’s Casino from Delaware North, is also gearing up to do the same via its Rhode Island App.
– Online Gambling Doesn’t Kill Brick-and-Mortar Casinos
Some analysts often put forward the idea that legalized online betting will doom land-based casinos. Their argument is that the convenience and appeal of online gambling will whisky away players from brick-and-mortar poker rooms, tables, and slots, leading to loss of tax dollars and jobs.
Nearly 7 years down the line, the New Jersey online gambling market has shown the opposite is actually true. In fact, revenues from, and visits to, Atlantic City casinos have increased almost every year in the last five years, although at a slower pace than online. Therefore, it’s clear that online gambling doesn’t slow the growth of retail gaming, and this may also be the case for Illinois if they choose to go down the road taken by New Jersey.
– Online Betting Drives Innovation
One of the biggest benefits of legal online betting, as seen in New Jersey, is that it fosters innovation. The nature of iGambling enables operators to try out new types of gaming formats and games that’d be nearly impossible or impractical in a land-based setting.
Some New Jersey online casinos are experimenting with Evolution Gaming’s state of the art Augmented Reality (AR) live-dealer platform. Online poker in New Jersey has also birthed new gambling techs like lottery-style sit-and-goes and fast-fold cash games.
