Once the epicenter of sports wagering in the United States outside Nevada, the New Jersey sports betting industry turned back the clock Friday after the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement reported a record monthly handle of $1.62 billion for November.

The Garden State ceded the national lead to its neighbor last year after New York mobile betting launched at the start of 2022. New Jersey watched the Empire State become the first to reach $2 billion in accepted monthly wagers in October before pushing it to the current record of more than $2.12 billion in November.

But New Jersey has shown a resurgence in betting handle in the fall months coinciding with the NFL season. Its September and October handles nearly reached $1.3 billion on each occasion, representing healthy double-digit year-over-year gains while ranking behind only January’s all-time mark of $1.35 billion.

Friday’s figure, however, was an upward surge of 47.3% from the $1.1 billion generated in November 2022 and a 20.3% increase from October. It is the ninth-largest monthly sports wagering handle all-time nationally, ending New York’s stranglehold on the top 10 for the time being.

As a result, New Jersey has surpassed $10 billion handle for the third straight year and is on track for a record amount wagered as year-to-date handle is up 8.1% versus the first 11 months of 2022. It continues to lead all states in all-time sports wagering handle with more than $44.4 billion.

The $95.9 million in adjusted gross revenue ranks just fifth in 66 months of all-time wagering, however, stemming from a 5.9% hold that ranks 52nd. Bettors limited the house to a 6.1% win rate on parlays despite an all-time parlay handle high of $368.9 million, resulting in $22.4 million in operator revenue. It was the third-lowest monthly parlay hold since the DGE began breaking out handle and revenue figures for parlays in September 2018 and the first below 10% since operators posted a 9.6% mark in August 2021.

Overall sports betting revenue for 2023 in the state is $897.2 million, up 32.9% compared to the first 11 months of last year. New Jersey collected $12.3 million in taxes, making it only the third state, along with New York and Pennsylvania, to collect more than $400 million worth of receipts all-time. The $115 million in taxes heading into the final month of 2023 is running $28.4 million ahead of last year’s pace.

1 NEW YORK $17.14B
2 NEW JERSEY $10.69B
3 Illinois $8.93B
4 Nevada ~$6.5B
5 Ohio $5.98B
6 Penn. $5.82B
7 Arizona $4.52B
8 Virginia $4.32B
9 MASS. $4.31B
10 Colorado $4.11B#sportsbettingtwitter #gamblingtwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) December 15, 2023

Sports betting apps from FanDuel, PointsBet, and SuperBook — all tethered to the Meadowlands Racetrack — followed up their collective $57.8 million revenue haul from October with $55.9 million in November. Meadowlands became the first licensee to post $50 million revenue in back-to-back months.

Resorts Digital, which flirted with back-to-back $50 million months in August and September, was a distant second at $19.2 million. The tether for primarily DraftKings, Resorts cleared $800 million in all-time revenue with November’s total.

Borgata’s license, home to BetMGM and its internal mobile app, rounded out the podium spots with $7.6 million in winnings. ESPN BET‘s debut in the Garden State contributed to a total haul of $4.8 million for tether Freehold Raceway Park. That was its highest monthly total since a record $7.6 million in November 2021.

Prophet Exchange had its best month since launching operations in August 2022, claiming $712,000 in winnings to erase a small year-to-date deficit and move nearly $700,000 in the black. Fellow betting exchange market SportTrade had the biggest monthly loss among mobile operators at $348,003, while Golden Nugget — home to its own app and Betway — finished down just over $25,000.

Retail wagering accounted for nearly $3.5 million of November’s revenue, with the Meadowlands trio representing more than half that amount at just over $1.8 million. The Borgata‘s retail book surpassed $4 million in year-to-date revenue — a swing of $7.6 million to the positive after finishing 2022 with $3.6 million in losses — after topping one-half million dollars for the third consecutive month.

Without parlays generating a majority of revenue in November, operators found a new primary source. The catch-all “other” category — which includes hockey, golf, soccer, tennis, boxing, mixed martial arts, and motor sports in New Jersey — generated a record $44.8 million in winnings.

That was nearly triple the previous high of $17.5 million established in June 2021 and continued a yo-yo trend in that category. Bettors came out $19 million ahead wagering on “other” sports in September before the house clawed back $11.4 million in October winnings.

Operators had their best month in football in two years with $20.8 million in winnings despite a modest hold under 4.2%. It was the first time football revenue surpassed $20 million since a record $27.7 million in November 2021.

The start of college basketball and a full month of NBA wagering contributed to $419.7 million worth of wagers — a near five-fold increase from October. The public barely kept the house under eight figures in winnings as the $9.8 million in revenue represented a 2.3% win rate.

There were also some winning baseball futures tickets, with the house paying out $605,000 on top of the $7.4 million in accepted bets. That was a swing of $1.6 million to the negative compared to November 2022, when operators still managed to eke out 950,000 in winnings.

Despite the success bettors had on parlays for November, the overall hold on such wagers for 2023 is still an eye-watering 18.9%, as the house has claimed $486.1 million in revenue from $2.58 billion wagered.