The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, collected $3.5 million in bets during the first nine days after its sportsbook opened, much of which happened during a uniquely slow period on the sports calendar.
That announcement came from operator Jeff Gural, who told the Associated Press about the haul that the FanDuel Sportsbook at the track took starting in mid-July.
The latest sportsbook in New Jersey is located in the same sports complex that hosts the New York Giants and New York Jets, just outside of New York City.
There are now four active sportsbooks in the state, including one at Monmouth Park and two more in Atlantic City, at the Borgata and Ocean Resort casinos.
Summer Success Story
The Meadowlands launched their sportsbook just before the World Cup final, which took place on July 15, and both the men’s and women’s finals at Wimbledon. That allowed for a solid opening weekend, but was followed up by a week in which virtually nothing was on the sports calendar.
“We did OK,” Gural told the AP. “Our goal the first weekend was to exceed $1 million, which we did. The next four days were quiet with nothing to bet on due to the All-Star break.”
That meant there was no baseball to bet on for much of the first week. In addition, football, basketball, and hockey are all out of season, limiting choices for prospective bettors. Business reportedly picked up again on the second weekend of operation, with over $650,000 coming in last Saturday alone, mostly on baseball.
Gural said that he was pleased with the performance despite the fact that the sportsbook, which will be expanded in the near future, was “not at full strength” yet.
Compounding Sports Betting Interest
The numbers that came in at the Meadowlands were largely in line with the openings of the rest of New Jersey’s sports betting locations. Earlier this month, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released the first sports betting figures for the state, reporting that the three sportsbooks to open last month took in $16.4 million in bets during a shortened June, as the first bookmakers only opened for business on June 14.
That total doesn’t reflect how much revenue the sportsbooks will make. The DGE report showed $3.5 million in gross revenues for the month, but that included $1 million in outstanding futures bets, and another $1.2 million in winning tickets that hadn’t been cashed yet. The actual hold on settled bets was about 7.8 percent, which was still higher than the 5.5 average Nevada bookmakers have enjoyed in recent years.
There are no revenue figures available for the Meadowlands, as the numbers provide by Gural were unofficial. The next report from the NJDGE will come on August 14, when July’s figures are released.
New Jersey was the second state to allow for legalized sports betting after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May. Delaware was the first state outside of Nevada to begin accepting a full range of bets on sporting events, while Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are among the states that have passed legislation to allow sportsbooks to open.