NJ iGaming Surges 25% as Atlantic City has Best Summer Since 2012

New Jersey is back. And it would appear that Las Vegas’s loss is Atlantic City’s gain, at least in the sense that they posted another set of all-time record gambling revenue numbers this week. The overall number was $642 million, an increase of nearly 16% year over year, and this was helped considerably by iGaming, which grew by slightly over 25% to $248 million.

While land-based gaming once again beat iGaming in a hot summer month down the shore, its more tepid growth of only 6% was still cheered, as Las Vegas reported visitor numbers down by double digits. The fact that the Atlantic City casinos could not only best iGaming numbers for yet another month, but also show reasonable growth to almost $312 million, was the occasion for at least some celebration in the Garden State.

As we've mentioned before, there is definitely a tale of two markets here, both in land-based casinos and in the iGaming sector more broadly, a tale of haves and have-nots if you will. Borgata up 8%, Hard Rock up 5%, and Ocean up an impressive 16% are definitely on the have side of the equation. Borgata Casino broke $80 million in revenue in August, and Ocean's Casino continues an impressive summer climb to $51 million, which puts them within striking distance of number two Hard Rock Casino, which posted $58 million.

The headline number, however, was the $855 million in total won by these casinos over the closely watched summer months of June, July, and August, and that number was not only up 5%, but was the best summer months combination since 2012.

While the Atlantic City properties have watched their monopoly they once held slowly fade away as other neighboring states also legalized land-based gaming in places like Maryland and Pennsylvania, their fiercest competitor hasn’t been another state, but online gaming legalized in New Jersey more than ten years ago, but which continues to grow at an absolutely voracious speed.

And August was no exception, with year-over-year revenue up 25.2% to $248 million in what can best be described as a crowded market with 28 currently open online casinos. But again, there are huge disparities with FanDuel Casino posting $57 million in revenue, up a whopping 38% from August 2024, to casinos like Spin Palace Casino, Jackpot City Casino, Wheel of Fortune Casino, and Harrah’s Casino, none of which broke a million. Compare those with number two DraftKings Casino at $47 million, up 9% or perennial runner-ups, BetMGM Casino at $32 million, up 46% or Borgata Casino at $20 million, up just over 1%.

Definitely what the stock analysts like to call a bifurcated market, with the rich getting richer and the lower tier consolidating, though we would be remiss if we didn’t call out BetFanatics for another spectacular month, up 283% to $10 million.

NJ sports betting also had a huge run-up last month, with total revenue increasing 31% to just shy of $80 million on a handle (total amount wagered) of $814 million. We always like to look at total parlay wagers, as not every state is as detailed in their breakdown. In New Jersey, at least slightly more than half of all bets are parlay, totaling $448 million in August.

While New Jersey’s impressive rebound shows few signs of slowing, the Fall and then Winter can be a completely different story on the shore. But at least for now, land-based casinos appear to have righted themselves, while iGaming and sports betting continue writing new records. The divide between both digital and land-based casinos will likely deepen, but Atlantic City can claim momentum heading into the Fall, something which Las Vegas clearly cannot.