New Jersey Sportsbooks Go Cold in December, With Revenue Down 42% Year-Over-Year

Written By Dan Holmes on January 20, 2025 - Last Updated on January 22, 2025
Freezing cold winter day man prepares to dive into ice water

Overall, New Jersey sportsbooks performed well in 2024, but they finished the year on a down note, with revenue plunging 42% year-over-year in December. That result echoes the trend in other states and was largely due to an unusually low hold percentage caused by a month with few NFL upsets.

In the 2024 calendar year, New Jersey reported a total handle of $12.8 billion, an increase of 6.7% from 2023. For a fourth consecutive year, New Jersey bettors wagered at least $10 billion on sports.

But in December, online and retail sports betting combined for a revenue of $62.8 million, which is a tremendous dip from the December 2023 figure of $89 million. That was because New Jersey sportsbooks reported a hold of only 5.2%, compared to 8.5% in December 2023. It’s an even bigger month-over-month drop from November, when the hold percentage was a much healthier 9.7%.

Hold percentage represents the portion of all wagers placed that the sportsbook retains from bets lost by bettors. Sports bettors disproportionately prefer to bet on favorites, even at shorter odds, so hold typically goes up when there are many upsets in popular sports like NFL football, and down when most games go to the favorites.

New Jersey collected $8.2 million in taxes from sportsbook operators for their December 2024 activity.

Record year despite weak finish

Despite the poor operating month in December for sportsbooks in the state, New Jersey had another banner year. The state reported $1.22 billion monthly handle for the month, pushing the yearly total handle to $12.8 billion, the most ever in a single year and nearly 7% higher than in 2023. Handle is the amount of real money wagered by consumers, while operator revenue is handle minus player winnings.

Of the total handle for December of 2024, online sports betting apps accounted for $1.16 billion of the amount. Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, mostly hosted in casino locations, produced a hold a handle of $52.4 million, with a hold percentage of a little less than 2%.

The New Jersey sports betting market is healthy. For the fourth consecutive year bettors wagered over $10 billion in the state. Revenue from sports betting activity, both online and retail, was $1.09 billion in 2024, an 8.7% increase year-over-year. According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, $141.2 million was collected in 2024 tax revenue for state programs.

FanDuel Sportsbook led the way once again in December, with a gross revenue of $29.6 million, followed by DraftKings at $15.7 million last month.  A relatively new competitor, ESPN Bet, reported a loss of a little more than $356,000 in December in New Jersey. BetMGM was third in gross revenue for the month, at $6 million. Caesars was fourth at $1.3 million in gross revenue for the final month of 2024.

Revenue leaders from New Jersey sports betting in 2024

While the state does not reveal the total handle breakdown by sports betting operator, FanDuel had the highest revenue numbers for 2024: $459.4 million according to the report released by the state earlier this week. The other top operators recorded these figures for revenue from sports betting in 2024:

OperatorDecember Revenue
DraftKings$289.1M
BetMGM$70.7M
bet365$43.8M
Caesars$31.3M
Fanatics$22.7M
BetRivers$11.8M
ESPN Bet$8.7M
Photo by rangizzz/Shutterstock
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Written by
Dan Holmes

Dan Holmes is a contributing writer for PlayNJ. He has written three boooks about sports and previously worked for the National Baseball Hall of Fame as well as Major League Baseball. An avid writer, runner and enjoyer of lemon bars, Dan lives near Lake Michigan with his daughters and, oftentimes, a nearby orange cream soda.

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