It’s been 10 years since Governor Chris Christie signed the Bill legalizing online casino and online poker in New Jersey. With the Bill’s 10-year mandate recently extended for another decade, it is worth taking a look back and recognizing the massive success the state’s iGaming market has had over its first 10 years in operation.
October 2023 was the biggest and most successful month in NJ online casino history, with the $166.8 million in revenues generated that month took the overall number to just over $7 billion, well over $1 billion of which went to taxes paid to the state over the ten years.
New Jersey online casinos not only benefited the state through the massive taxes they generated, but also ensured that the Atlantic City casinos survive through an exceptionally difficult time of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Today, NJ online gambling industry continues to thrive and looks unstoppable, as it battles with Michigan for the number one spot nationwide and continues to attract more players and create more revenue with each passing month.
How It All Started
Back in February 2013, Senate Bill 1565 signed into power by Gov. Chris Christie made New Jersey one of the pioneers of iGaming in the country.
By October, the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement accepted the regulations relating to internet gambling and the first online casinos went live in November that same year.
The Casino Control Commission stated that some 126,000 user accounts were made that year. The casinos reported a total of $131.2 million in total revenue over the first 14 months of operation, with October 2023 alone beating that number.
It was a long and difficult journey riddled with obstacles for the NJ casino operators who needed time and effort to establish themselves. Not all of them made it this far, but those who did are now reaping the benefits of their success.
State of New Jersey the Big Winner
While the operators have certainly benefited from their efforts over the past decade, the actual monetary gain for many of them has been less than it would seem at first.
The one entity that certainly benefited a great deal is the State of New Jersey itself, as more than $1.45 billion of tax money has been added to the state’s coffers since 2013 due to online gambling.
The 15% tax imposed on the operators then has paid greatly, with the money generated from iGaming going to help senior and disabled citizens of the state.
It took a long time before online casinos in New Jersey stated generating these kinds of revenues, with the numbers in those early years being no more than a few tens of millions.
Then, the Coronavirus pandemic hit and Atlantic City casinos were shut all of a sudden, with thousands of players looking to online casinos for pastime and excitement.
Numbers started going up significantly in 2020, with $145 million in taxes collected that year and another $205 million in 2021.
Despite live casinos reopening in full in 2022, the year saw the biggest revenues and taxes paid to date, suggesting that the players had gotten used to playing online and that they actually prefer it.
As new revenue records continue to be set in 2023, it appears that there is no going back for New Jersey’s iGaming market and that the sky itself may be the limit for the fast-expanding market in the years to come.
