For the third consecutive month, New Jersey sportsbooks held in the double digits in July, with the Division of Gaming Enforcement reporting a near-10.4 percent overall win percentage as a result of great parlay numbers. In 62 months of sports betting in New Jersey, the house only managed a 10 percent or higher hold seven times, including the past three. Operators used parlays to generate nearly $39.3 million of their $61 million in adjusted gross revenue in July, setting a record-breaking monthly parlay hold of 29.2 percent. Although it should be mentioned that parlay handle in that football month was substantially greater at $262.8 million, the previous high was 26.9 percent in November 2021. Parlay bets totaled $134.5 million, or 22.9 percent of the $587 million in handle, that operators accepted in July.

The increase in parlay winners drove an increase in revenue year over year in July, increasing total handle by 10.4 percent over July 2022. Despite the fact that operator income in 2023 has increased 41.9 percent to $501.8 million compared to the first seven months of last year, the overall year-to-date handling of $5.7 billion is down by approximately 9 percent. Tax receipts for the state were $7.7 million in July, and the $56.5 million total for the year is more than $10.8 million ahead of schedule.

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Operators held at least 20 percent of parlay wagers for the fourth straight month in July, matching the longest streak in state history that was started from last August through November. The holds at that time varied from 20.6 percent to 22.7 percent, therefore the 2022 streak had a significantly lower floor and ceiling. In contrast, the present stretch’s floor is slightly under 22 percent and its top is the just established new record. Thus, it seems clear that while revenue has increased by 34.9 percent to $291.8 million over the same period, the year-to-date parlay handle of $1.4 billion is only up 5.3 percent from 2022. At 24.3 percent, the 2023 hold is 3.3 percentage points higher.

When comparing the first seven months of this year to last year, the public isn’t doing well when it comes to single-event gambling due to the excessive emphasis given to parlay wagering as it has grown in popularity, at least in New Jersey. In this case, the discrepancies between handle and income are much more obvious: in 2023, handle for single-event betting fell by 12.8% to $4.3 billion, but sportsbook revenue increased by 51.1% to $210 million.

This increase in income is accompanied by sport-specific holds that are generally higher than in 2022 but fall short of the industry standard of 7%. Holds have increased by nearly four full percentage points in football, which now accounts for just over 6 percent of total holds, 2.1 points in basketball (3.8%), more than 2.3 points in baseball (5.9%), and almost 1.9 points in the catch-all “other” category of golf, tennis, soccer, boxing, MMA, and motorsports (6.1%).

It is impossible to determine which sportsbook had the greatest month because the New Jersey does not release handle and revenue numbers for each operator and instead combines revenue total per license-holder venue. With slightly more than $24 million in revenue, The Meadowlands Racetrack, the mobile tether of FanDuel, PointsBet, and Superbook, led all venues in July. This was down 3.8 percent from June but was also 4.7 percent higher than July 2022.

With around $19 million, Resorts Digital, the company behind DraftKings, its own app, and the soon-to-be-closed FOX Bet, took second place. Although the revenue was more than twice as much as it had been in July of the previous year ($8.5 million), the reduction from June was more extreme (25.2 percent). However, BetMGM and the Borgata defied the trend of monthly reductions with a 62.8 percent increase to about $5.9 million. 

In comparison to June, Tipico’s revenue increased by nearly four times to more than $237,000, while Golden Nugget and Betway’s combined revenue of over $167,000 was more than twice as high. The state’s two exchange platforms had a difficult month as Prophet Exchange closed with a loss of more than $36,000 and Sporttrade’s monthly income fell by more than 85% to just over $36,000.