NJ gaming income nears $600M in March on iGaming enhance

The fundamentals:

• Total gaming income reached $596.4M, up 9.2% year-over-year
• Internet gaming led with $272.1M – rising 11.6% and topping casinos, once more
• Sports betting income surged 22.8% to $87.6M regardless of decrease deal with
• Brick-and-mortar on line casino win grew 2.5%, second-best March since 2013

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New Jersey’s gaming trade posted stable progress in March 2026, with good points pushed largely by continued energy in web gaming alongside regular in-person on line casino efficiency.

Topline March figures (by way of the Division of Gaming Enforcement):

• Total gaming income: $596.4 million +9.2%
• Internet gaming income: $272.1 million +11.6%
• Brick-and-mortar on line casino win: $236.7 million +2.5%
• Sports betting income: $87.6 million +22.8%
• Total sports activities betting deal with: $1.01 billion -8.6%

Internet gaming as soon as once more generated the most important share of income, persevering with a latest development, whereas brick-and-mortar casinos additionally posted year-over-year progress and delivered their strongest March whole in additional than a decade.

Casino Control Commission Chairman James Plousis mentioned, “Atlantic City‘s in-person on line casino win achieved its second-best March determine since 2013, with combined outcomes among the many operators. First quarter on line casino win was secure, recording its third-best end in 13 years.

“Internet gaming win reached its second-highest monthly result on record, surpassing $270 million for just the second time. As expected, online win also eclipsed in-person casino win for the seventh consecutive month, continuing the shoulder season’s recent trend.”

An in-person gaming development emerges?

Jane Bokunewicz, school director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University School of Business, pointed to broader seasonal and structural dynamics shaping the market.

“Despite one of the worst winters in recent years, first quarter 2026 brick-and-mortar casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) surprisingly increased over the same period in 2025. Even so, internet gaming exceeded traditional gaming channels for total first quarter GGR and represented nearly half of total GGR for the period.”

She added, “March 2026 marks the seventh consecutive month the place GGR for web gaming has exceeded conventional, brick-and-mortar channels. The indisputable fact that brick-and-mortar gaming has not exceeded web gaming since August 2025 could also be indicative of a excessive diploma of seasonality relating to in-person gaming.

“As the weather warms and a visit to the shore becomes increasingly attractive, it will be interesting to see how this trend evolves.”

Casino efficiency

Three casinos posted year-over-year will increase, whereas six declined for that interval:

• • Increases: Borgata, Caesars, Ocean Casino
  • Declines: Bally’s, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock, Harrah’s, Resorts, and Tropicana

Top performers (on line casino win):

• Borgata $67.2 million, up 15%
• Hard Rock $42.6 million, down 4.1%
• Ocean Casino $35.4 million, up 2.2%

While Bokunewicz famous that the comfort of web gaming will proceed to drive its progress – she expects year-over-year progress in the course of the peak summer time tourism season.

“Just as during the pandemic, online gaming operations may prove to be an asset as competition for convenience gamblers increases with the introduction of downstate New York casinos,” she mentioned. “The advantage of this might be restricted by properties’ revenue-sharing agreements with third-party enterprise companions and associates.

To succeed with brick-and-mortar operations, it can turn into more and more needed for Atlantic City’s on line casino resorts to ‘lean in’ to their on-property belongings to make the in-person expertise sufficiently engaging and distinctive to draw patrons on this aggressive market.
—Jane Bokunewicz, school director, LIGHT

“To succeed with brick-and-mortar operations, it will become increasingly necessary for Atlantic City’s casino resorts to ‘lean in’ to their on-property assets to make the in-person experience sufficiently enticing and distinctive to attract patrons in this competitive market.”

Plousis highlighted a number of the encouraging broader traits that the report exhibits.

“With growth in all three segments of New Jersey’s total gaming revenue, it has now exceeded one-half billion dollars in 13 consecutive months,” mentioned Plousis. “In the first quarter, statewide total gaming revenue eclipsed $1.7 billion faster than any other year this decade.”