Atlantic City casino revenue increased in January 2025 iGaming in New Jersey outperformed the nine casinos Oddsmakers reported a significant decline in bets
Despite Atlantic City casino revenue trailing iGaming in January, the first month of 2025 brought mostly positive news for New Jersey’s gambling market.
According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), the nine casinos combined to win $210 million last month. This brick-and-mortar play represented a 2.6% year-over-year improvement, aided by an additional weekend day in January compared to January 2024.
James Plousis, chair of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, noted that last month “was the second-best January result in 13 years.” Slot machines generated about $145.4 million for the house, a 2% gain, while table game revenue increased by over 4% to $64.6 million.
However, iGaming stole the spotlight. Online casino slots, interactive table games, and poker rake brought in over $221.6 million, representing a 21% year-over-year surge. This marks only the second time since New Jersey legalized online casino gaming in late 2013 that internet sites have outpaced brick-and-mortar casinos.
New Jersey iGaming Rally
In-person play at the nine Atlantic City casinos slowed by 1.1% last year to approximately $2.81 billion. However, iGaming reported a 24% surge to $2.38 billion, with regulated gaming platforms winning about $463.4 million more from remote players than in 2023.
January 2025 indicates that the trend might continue, with online gaming expanding while brick-and-mortar stagnates. Although January was positive for the nine casinos, with gross gaming revenue (GGR) climbing almost 3%, the increase loses some impact due to the extra weekend day.
Online casinos generally see slightly higher rates of play on weekends, but the difference between midweek and weekend play isn’t as pronounced as in physical casinos. While in-person play in Atlantic City has leveled off or slowed over the past year, the iGaming sector continues to attract new players.
Gaming experts like Jane Bokunewicz, director of Stockton University’s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, and Tourism (LIGHT), maintain that iGaming complements the resorts.
“Brick-and-mortar gaming is not being left behind by internet gaming. Atlantic City’s nine casino hotels started 2025 on the right foot with a 2.6% increase,” Bokunewicz remarked in her January revenue comments.
The casinos benefit from iGaming, but the revenue is shared with their third-party partners like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM. January marked the fifth consecutive month where iGaming GGR exceeded $200 million.
Sports Betting Slowdown
While Atlantic City casino revenue and iGaming posted year-over-year gains in January, it was a different story for sports betting. Oddsmakers kept approximately $122.2 million of the $1.15 billion in bets placed, representing a 28% decline from January 2024.
Oddsmakers reported a similar win, or hold rate, keeping 10.3% of bets last month, slightly higher than the 10.1% hold rate in January 2024. The total handle in January 2024 was over $1.72 billion.
In total, Atlantic City casino wins, iGaming GGR, and sports betting revenue reached $559 million. January’s GGR haul was 28% higher, or $463.8 million more, than January 2024.
