New Jersey becomes first state to hit $1 billion in monthly sports bets
- Kendall Baker, author of Axios Sports
New Jersey sportsbooks took $1.01 billion in bets in September, the first time any state has eclipsed the billion-dollar mark.
The big picture: New Jersey has overtaken Nevada as the sports betting capital of America in the three years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned PASPA, giving states the power to legalize sports betting.
By the numbers: $19 billion has been wagered in the Garden State since the Supreme Court's June 2018 ruling, generating roughly $1.4 billion in revenue for sportsbooks and $169 million in tax revenue for the state.
Snapshot: Here are the top five states by sports betting handle (i.e. total amount wagered) since June 2018.
- New Jersey: $19B
- Nevada: $16.8B
- Pennsylvania: $8.8B
- Illinois: $5.9B
- Indiana: $4.6B
Between the lines: New Jersey has benefited from the lack of legal options in New York, with bettors traveling across state lines to place wagers. But New York's online betting market is coming, and it could rival — or even surpass — New Jersey's.
State of play: 28 states plus Washington, D.C., currently have legal sports betting markets, with four more states — Florida, Maryland, Wisconsin and Nebraska — gearing up to launch.
Go deeper: New Jersey is America's new sports betting capital