After a disappointing month of February for the sports betting industry in New Jersey, March provided some impressive numbers. The total sports betting handle for the month was $859.6 million, which was an increase of almost 16 percent from February.
The Division of Gaming issued a detailed report of sports betting and other iGaming on Friday, and the numbers were not surprising. February has traditionally been a slow month for the state, but the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in March always gets things turned around.
The most impressive jump for New Jersey sports betting came in the form of revenue, as March provided an increase of 31.5 percent. The sports betting revenue for the month was $60.8 million, and that was also an increase of more than 360 percent from March 2020.
New Jersey is still looking to go over the $1 billion mark in total sports betting handle, but that record-setting number likely won’t be attained until the start of the NFL season in September.
Mobile Handle Improves As Well
Online sports betting has accounted for more than 90 percent of the total handle nearly every month, and that was the case once again in March. The mobile sports betting handle was $780.1 million, and that was a jump of nearly 380 percent from one year ago.
Mobile sports betting handle was just $689.2 million during the month of February, and a lack of NFL Football played a role in the decrease. All of the retail sportsbooks in New Jersey are located in Atlantic City, but most sports bettors simply prefer making bets online or through their mobile devices.
US Market Posting Big Numbers
A handful of the top sports betting markets in the US have already posted March figures, and it was a great month for the industry. Sports betting was down throughout the country in February, but things should start to turn around from here on out.
Pennsylvania posted a total sports betting handle of $560.3 million in March, and that state should remain in the top four. Indiana had a huge month, with the total sports betting handle climbing all the way up to $316.7 million.
Nevada and Illinois have not yet announced their sports betting numbers for March, and these two states will likely post numbers that are higher than Pennsylvania.
New York Ready to Compete?
The state of New Jersey has attracted plenty of sports betting action from residents of New York over the last few years, but this could potentially change in the future. New York was finally able to legalize mobile sports betting after Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his support to this measure.
New York has the potential to become one of the biggest sports betting markets in the United States, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon. The bill that was approved in New York was very restrictive, and it will not create a competitive environment.
Instead of creating a wide-open market like in New Jersey, New York has limited the number of potential operators. Look for sports bettors to continue to cross state lines to place bets in New Jersey and boost the sports betting totals.
