30-second summary

• Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City is the eighth casino there to open a sportsbook
• Only an online version is available for now
• The casino recently won a $4.8 settlement from Atlantic City authorities over a tax dispute
• Sports betting revenues in the state are over $1.2bn since opening in June 2018

Hard Rock opens online sportsbook

The sportsbook at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City is now open. It is likely to be the last sportsbook to open in the city for some time. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement gave permission to open operations after the casino’s online betting systems were tested.

The timing is ideal because the casino still has about a week before the Super Bowl to have their sportsbook open and accepting bets.

There is still no physical sportsbook, so the casino will rely on its online system for now. The physical sportsbook is scheduled to open before February 3, but it remains to be seen if it will hit that deadline. Hard Rock is the eighth of the nine casinos in the city to open a sportsbook.

The Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City was bought in 2017 by Hard Rock International. It opened under the new name in June 2018. In August 2018, Hard Rock formed a partnership with Malta-based Kindred Group to operate its sportsbook.

The casino recently won a case that will result in the Atlantic City authorities paying it $4.8m over a five-year period.?The case involved a tax obligation dispute. The first of these payments will be made in 2020.

Sports betting in New Jersey

Sports betting has been a massive success in New Jersey. Many online and offline sportsbooks have opened in the state, and they attract more people to the casinos to engage in other forms of gambling.

One interesting aspect, based on the figures so far, is that the expenditure on mobile sports betting is much greater than at physical sportsbooks. Many people come from neighboring states to place their sports bets through one of the mobile sportsbooks.

In December, the sports betting handle in New Jersey was $319m (￡243m), creating revenues for the operators of almost $21m (￡16m). Of these revenues, $6.1m (￡4.7m) came through physical sportsbooks and $14.7m (￡11.2m) from mobile sportsbooks.

New Jersey’s total sports betting intake in New Jersey is over the $1.2bn (￡0.91bn) mark since it first started in June. Operators have received revenue of over $94m (￡71.6m), and the state has taken in about $10.4m (￡7.9m) in taxes.

The state’s casino operators had a total handle of $78m (￡59.4m) in December. Of this, $6.2m (￡4.7m) was revenue for the operators.

The leading operators were at the two racetracks, Meadowlands ($3.6m; ￡2.7m) and Monmouth Park ($1m; ￡760,000). The Ocean Resort Casino, which recently got new owners, was the leading casino with $634,000 (￡483,000) in revenues. The Tropicana and Harrah’s were second and third, respectively.