New Jersey’s retail sports bettors better at picking winners

New Jersey’s sports betting market took a dip in February, despite excitement over the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) show the state’s licensed sports betting operators generated wagering handle of $320.4m in February, a significant decline from January’s record $385m, while betting revenue fell to $12.7m from January’s $18.8m.

It should be noted that February had three less days than January in which to wager, and the NBA was out of action for a week for its annual all-star break. But February got a boost from the Super Bowl, which generated $35m in handle, although the books lost a combined $4.6m on the event. February also saw nearly $748k wagered on the Academy Awards, from which betting operators claimed over $182k in revenue, a healthy 24.4% hold.

Online and mobile betting continued their dominance over retail wagering in February. Online handle came in at nearly $258.9m, just under 81% of the month’s overall betting, roughly the same percentage as January’s result.