fanduel sportsbook web screen

After falling short of outsized expectations for a market just five months into its existence, legal sports betting is picking up in New Jersey. And the daily fantasy sports juggernauts-turned-sportsbook operators are leading the way in the Garden State, perhaps a preview of how both will perform in states preparing to come online (or in brick-and-mortar locations).

According to numbers released by the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement on Wednesday, the overall sports betting handle was a record $330,748,563 in November, while overall sports betting revenue came in at $21,243,865. That translates to a 6.4 percent hold for the sportsbooks, about on par with typical month in Nevada, and a bounce back from NJ sportsbooks’ 4.4 percent hold in October when a lot of public NFL favorites covered and totals continued to soar over. In October, New Jersey sports betting brought in $11.7 million in revenue with $260 million in total wagers.

The increase in betting handle is all being driven via online/mobile wagering as DraftKings and FanDuel continue to dominate the field in mobile/online wagering popularity. DraftKings Sportsbook was the first to come online in August and FanDuel Sportsbook followed before the kickoff of football season. More have come online since and altogether the online betting handle accounted for 72 percent of the month’s betting handle in New Jersey.

The lesson, of course, we live in a digital age and people like the convenience of betting on the bus or train home from work, on the couch or porcelain throne, or before nodding off in bed. You get the idea, yet certain states such as Missouri are considering laws that would only allow betting while someone is on casino premises.

Breaking it down a bit further

DK Sportsbook, along with BetStars NJ under the Resorts Atlantic City license, reported $7,172,171 in November gross revenue (BetStars accounts for about 5 percent or less of that figure). FD Sportsbook had its most profitable month online since launching in September, bringing in $4,437,916.  The retail FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands Racetrack, only about eight miles from New York City, led the way among brick-and-mortar shops with $2,605,478 revenue generated in person.

The report doesn’t indicate the betting handle at both DK and FD, but we do know they combined for $14,446,570 in revenue (online and retail), which translates to 68 percent of all the revenue across NJ sportsbooks for the month.


“DraftKings continues to set the pace in New Jersey sports betting,” said Jamie Shea,  DraftKings’ Senior Director of Digital Sportsbook. “Since August, DraftKings has taken more than 8 million bets and paid out $250 million to sports fans. Our new retail sportsbook at Resorts had a strong first month, capped with an exciting consumer event this past weekend. No one understands the American sports fan like DraftKings.”

One reason DraftKings and FanDuel have become formidable in the sports betting space is innovation. For example both DraftKings and FanDuel are offering “odds boosting” to entice bettors on a prop by increasing the payout a bit.  For instance, FanDuel recently boosted the odds of Steph Curry to score 30+ points combined with the Warriors beating the Raptors from +220 to +260.

Things like odds boosts, DK’s “Sports Betting National Championship” and quality user experience on the live betting menus will go a long way. DraftKings is also promoting a Sports Betting National Championship contest that awards $1,000,000 to the winner. 

The contests is one way for DraftKings to convert DFS players into future sports betting customers and get those in states outside New Jersey familiar with the idea that yes, DraftKings is now a sportsbook, too, possibly/probably coming to your state when laws permit. In the DraftKings contest, you can either buy your way in for $10,000 or compete in DFS satellites and qualifiers to win your entry for as little as 10 cents. 

Another way to attract the DFS player? You can bet on fantasy scoring. Right now at FD Sportsbook, you can bet over/under on Patrick Mahomes Week 15 DFS points at over/under 25 points (-110 on both sides).

Getting DFS players to crossover to sports betting is a very logical move for two outfits that built their brands on daily fantasy. Nearly 40% of people with active daily fantasy sports accounts at DraftKings in New Jersey have made at least one sports bet on the company’s sister site, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins revealed at the ICE Sports Betting USA conference in Manhattan.

While that number sounds like a lot, Robins hoped it would be even higher.

“Maybe I had too ambitious an expectation, but I thought it would be higher,” Robins said. “I figured there would be more overlap.”

Still it’s an encouraging start and remember, the existence of legal sports betting outside Nevada is less than six months old in the U.S.  Sports betting is now legal in just eight states and Robins said sportsbook revenue already represents almost 20% of DraftKings’ business. In New Jersey, sports betting comprises 80% of its overall business.

While mobile wagering is the clear choice in New Jersey after the first few months of wagering, DraftKings also opened a land-based casino on Nov. 20 at Resorts Casino in Atlantic City. It became the company’s second DraftKings land-based operation, joining Scarlet Pearl Resort in Mississippi’s Gulf Coast region.

The other mobile sportsbooks in New Jersey did well last month but came in well behind DraftKings and FanDuel, such as MGM’s playMGM app, which saw just $194,212 in revenue come via its mobile apps.