January Revenue Signals Structural Shift In New Jersey Gaming

The gap between New Jersey brick and mortar casinos and their server based counterparts continues to grow larger this winter as iGaming grew at a brisk 16.8% while the Atlantic City casino market saw a more tepid 1.6% growth rate. That meant $213 million revenue haul for the Boardwalk, but nearly $259 million for the online gaming. Sports betting contributed another $114 million. 

But this means out of $586 million almost 45% was iGaming, nearly 20% was from sports books, nearly all bet online, and only about 35% came from traditional brick and mortar casinos, though, in all fairness, January was a brutal weather month with well below freezing weather and snowstorms making travel down the shore even more hazardous than usual. 

FanDuel continued to pull away from the competition, with almost $59 million in revenue for the month up 18.5% from prior year, while DraftKings posted $48 million, good for a 10% increase. Between them these online behemoths have more than 40% of total market share in the Garden State. 

There still remain 25 total online casinos, but nine of those failed to even break the $2 million monthly revenue mark in January. Of the top five only Borgata failed to show year over year growth with a 4% decline. BetFanatics however, continues its meteoric rise, up to nearly $12 million from just $2.5 million last January, a 240% jump.

While many online books around the country reported far less favorable player results in January, New Jersey struggled with results down 5% from prior year. FanDuel posted $45 million, and DraftKings $30 million, both down 14%. BetFanatics made a splash here as well with nearly $11 million, a solid 61% gain that propelled them into third place.

The weather certainly didn’t help the 9 Atlantic City casinos, but the calendar did with an extra Saturday in 2026. This allowed slot machine revenue to grow 3.5%, but table games gave up 2.9%. Borgata led the pack with $56 million in combined casino revenue, but off 6.1%. 

Hard Rock, who benefited from a very full concert and events schedule in the month increased table games revenue by more than 56%, and total casino revenue up 21% for a grand total of $46 million for the number two spot. Oceans rounded out the big three with flat growth and $35 million. None of the other six properties reach even half of Oceans numbers.

January’s numbers simply reinforce what we’ve been seeing for 18 months or so, the New Jersey market is no longer Atlantic City with some online casinos bolted on. Other than the summer months, it’s a digital first market that has some beach resorts with casinos. 

And the moat around those resort casinos is about to get smaller as New York City adds its first land-based casino to the mix in the next few months with two more on the horizon. That means the gambling revenue pie is about to look very different from the current nearly 50%  slice for online casinos that we’ve grown accustomed to. Impacts as high as 25%  revenue decline in brick and mortar is possible over the next year, and those Atlantic City casinos best positioned for omnichannel gaming that combines the online always on experience of iGaming with the occasional weekend of luxury hotel and fine dining are likely to fare best. 

New Jersey remains one of the most mature and innovative gaming markets in the country. What unfolds there in 2026 won’t be an isolated story. It’s an early signal of how regional competition, kudzu-like digital growth, and destination gaming resorts will impact the broader US casino market in the years ahead.