New Jersey is the new king of sports betting

This content was produced in partnership with Gambler.Media.

In the short history of legalized sports wagering outside of Nevada, the first wave of states that changed their laws in 2018 always looked West to see if they could measure up to Nevada.

For one state, and I think you know which one (the greatest of them all), it did not take long to knock the king off his throne.

In the midst of a global pandemic, which saw the state shut down physical casinos for months (with N.J. online casinos being the only gambling option), New Jersey continues to post absolutely stunning numbers on the sports betting front.

For the fourth month in a row, the Garden State has set a new record for sports betting, with $931.6 million in bets placed. That breaks the record of $803.1 million in October, which broke the record of $748 million for September, which broke the record of $667.8 million from August. The online handle for November was $872 million, good for almost 94 percent of the take.

That is a lot of broken records. It is also the seventh straight month the state has posted an increase in the intake of money on sports.

The revenue of about $50.6 million is third all-time for a month, behind last month ($58.5 million) and pre-pandemic January ($53.6 million).

Here is another amazing statistic to show just how much of a monster sports betting has become in New Jersey: while Nevada has yet to post its numbers for November, New Jersey has cut the all-time gap between the states to below $600 million.

Yes, you read that correctly. New Jersey (almost $10.9 billion), which only legalized sports gambling in June of 2018, will pass Nevada (over $11.4 billion) for all-time sports betting take sometime in the next few months.

That is absolutely staggering, and must have neighboring states without online sports gambling (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and especially New York) looking on with more than a jealous gaze.

The amazing thing about this new yearly record that is about to be shattered is that there was little for people to bet on from mid-March until June, when professional soccer leagues around the world started to come back into play.

There was no NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, with its first two days of games that are massive for the betting industry. There was no Major League Baseball until August, and 100 games for each team were wiped off the docket. The NBA and NHL were paused, and although both came back, they too had games shaved off their schedules.

So the $931 million dollar record from November is sure to fall in December, and New Jersey is well on the way to a $6 billion (SIX BILLION DOLLARS) year. But imagine what that number is going to be in 2021, with sports back to “normal”, and more bettors adding accounts every day.

Can the Garden State do $8 billion next year? Maybe $9 billion? No way New Jersey gets to $10 billion, right?

With this business, you just never know.

The next in line to compete with NJ is Michigan, where this December were granted 15 gambling licenses, according to MichiGambler.com.

If you or anyone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER.