There is a common saying that the house always wins. As a gambler, you must have heard this saying several times. Well, this is most certainly true, with a lot of gamblers being unable to beat the house eventually. Still, now and then, the public wins, signifying losses for the house.
That is exactly what happened for two straight Super Bowls for New Jersey casinos. New Jersey is among the 20 states that presently provide legal and regulated sports betting. It was initially legalized on June 1, 2018, by Governor Phil Murphy, after the United States Supreme Court decided to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
After casinos in New Jersey started offering legal sports betting, they never hoped to be so sheepish about making losses of almost $10 million in the two most significant betting days of the whole year. The NFL championship, for gamblers, had made it rain cash. The betting public made a lot of money, collectively speaking.
However, the two recent Super Bowls have been a complete bloodbath for the house. So, what really happened in these Super Bowls.
Of course, the bettors in New Jersey aren’t great at making better picks. Or are they? This article examines what really happened during these two Super Bowls.
the 2019 & 2020 New Jersey Loss
During this year’s Super Bowl Sunday, sports bettors from New Jersey took the sportsbooks for a ride. This resulted in the 2nd straight net loss of over 4 million dollars for the books on the National Football League’s big game.
The Associated Press, on Monday, stated in a report that preliminary data indicates that New Jersey’s land-based and online sportsbooks produced a handle of 54.2 million dollars on the 2020 Super Bowl. This is actually a massive improvement over the 35 million dollars handled by the books on the big game of 2019, which was the premier under New Jersey’s new legal betting environs.
There was a slight improvement in the revenue performance of NJ’s books, after incurring a 4.6 million dollars loss in 2019, to 4.3 million dollars this year. Still, people assume that the NJ casinos may end up being winners.
This is only possible if the high number of bettors filling the Atlantic City casino sportsbooks took time to take a beer or two, or some food and maybe lost several winnings on the gaming tables and casino slots after handing out the trophies, according to The New York Post. Regardless, how have the casinos made such huge losses in two consecutive years?
Factors Leading to the New Jersey Losses of 2019
Last year, during the Patriots-Rams Super Bowl, NJ sportsbooks incurred a combined loss of 4.5 million dollars based on official after-game reports that the Division of Gaming Enforcement released. The financial impact was somewhat expected given that the New England Patriots were and still remain a wildly popular team with the betting public.
This is particularly true for the majority of the American northeast, which is filled with tens of millions of fans and betters of the Patriots, who prefer to wager on their best team. Not only would a win by New England mean something, but also covering the area spread and locking in all connected money teasers and lines, meant that sportsbooks were basically drawing dead on this game.
What’s odd is that just across the US, Nevada sportsbooks did really well in the 2019’s Super Bowl game, making wins of 10.7 million dollars, as stated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The difference between these two states and the reason for significant losses by New Jersey can be most likely explained by two factors, that is, volume and geography.
Geography
New Jersey has somewhat of a circumstantial outlier, considering that they are still a relatively new legal sports gambling market. The majority of bettors in the state are still novices. Generally, inexperienced bettors will lose, working in favor of the house.
However, millions of dollars that were placed into the sportsbooks were from gamblers who were mainly betting with their hearts. The inequality in wages produced a probable disaster. So, when the Patriots won in 2019, and thousands of New England bettors began cheering and flooding the cash out windows once the game was over, the sportsbooks eventually suffered a big loss.
Volume
In 2019, Nevada’s wagers made over four times the aggregate volume of their New Jersey counterparts. While gamblers placed $145 million across the counter in Nevada, NJ placed $35 million.
First, the volume was geographically dispersed, because Las Vegas gets bettors from all over the globe. On the other hand, NJ is still a regional customer base. Still, this meant that people made a far more significant number of wagers on unconventional bets, including propositions and totals.
On the other hand, a significant percentage of bets in New Jersey was tied to the victory of the Patriots. According to The Washington Post, with the books of New Jersey imbalanced, brought together against Nevada’s high volume, New Jersey was vulnerable, while Nevada was almost certain of making wins.
2020: NJ Incurs More Losses, Nevada Wins Bigger
The public was rooting for the Chiefs, who finished as a negative 1.5-point favorite. Kansas City’s winning over San Francisco at a 31-20 victory was an indication of another profitable day for New Jersey bettors.
The public beat the casinos for almost 4.3 million dollars, which was yet another gut punch to the sportsbooks. The win is generally between 5 and 10%.
In 2020, the public changed those expectations, winning roughly 7.8% of the entire handle. This can be referred to as another bout of indigestion to what has been otherwise a tantalizingly satisfying meal, with NJ battling for supremacy as the country’s most profitable sports gambling market, according to Alex Denholm at OnlineCasinoGems.
What Is the Fate of NJ Casinos?
NJ is licking its wounds for two consecutive times after the legalization of sports betting in the state. According to The New York Times, while other states record wins, NJ seems to be the minority state amongst the rest of the newcomers.
Still, this is a mix of both good and bad news in the state. Despite losing, the overall betting volume rose by an incredible 70%, from 34.8 million dollars to 54.2 million dollars. So, their sports betting market is not only successful, but it also continues to thrive.
