One of the largest and wealthiest states in the US, New Jersey, has just broken a new record in the world of real money online gaming. As of January 2022, the Garden State has recorded a fourth straight month of generating more than $1 billion in online gambling wagers.
This far outstrips gambling revenues in most other parts of the country and has cemented NJ's position as the premier online gambling hotspot in America. Let's take a closer look at NJ's astonishing iGaming industry success, and what lies ahead for this burgeoning industry.
New Jersey's Online Gambling Boom: In Numbers
Firstly, let's break down the numbers and the huge amounts of cash behind the NJ online gambling surge. In December 2021 alone, the state recorded more than $133 million in exclusively online gambling revenues, beating its previous monthly record of $127 million, achieved in October. This compares to $99 million in revenues for December 2020, representing a 34% year-on-year increase.
All told, NJ's digital casinos notched up a jaw-dropping $1.4 billion in revenue, which is more than 40% of the sector's 2020 earnings. With numbers like this, it is safe to say that online gambling is now one of the most promising high-growth industries in the entirety of NJ.
How Did We Get Here?
So, how exactly did the Garden State become a white-hot epicentre for online gambling? The answers to this can be found in NJ's history. NJ has historically had some of the most liberal gambling laws in the entirety of the US.
Horse race betting and lotteries have been fully legal for well over 150 years, outstripping even Nevada in terms of permissiveness. With the rise of Atlantic City and its booming Prohibition-era casinos in the 1920s and 30s, New Jersey's status as a gambling hub was assured.
Atlantic City has struggled over the years but has recently returned to profitability thanks to a domestic tourism boom. However, the main success story behind the numbers relates to online gambling laws, which are far more recent.
Online gambling in virtually all forms became fully legalized in 2013, with NJ being one of the first states to make this step. As a result of this early liberalization and the strong standards set by the NJ Gaming Control Board, many of the top gambling operators in the world moved quickly to set up a presence for customers in the state.
What Online Gamblers Can Expect in the Garden State
So, what can gamblers in NJ right now expect? Put simply, online gambling fans have more choice, higher quality, and greater security assurances than gamblers anywhere else in America.
This comprehensive guide to online gambling in NJ sets out exactly what's on offer, with many of the top names in gambling, including Borgata, MGM, and 888 serving players in the state. The guide also explains how gambling is tightly regulated in the state, with operators being required to adhere to the highest security and service standards before they can be granted a license. All of this means that the online gambling experience in NJ is of an extremely high standard.
With a gambling scene as rich as NJ's, it is unsurprising that the state is racing ahead as a gambling Mecca. As online gambling continues to soar in popularity across the US, expect NJ to benefit from its prime position.