NJ casino, sports bet revenues hit high of $5.8B, but casinos trail pre-COVID levels

abcnews.go.com:

There is both good news and bad news for Atlantic City's casinos and racetracks that took sports bets in 2023

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey's casino and sports betting operators and their online partners won nearly $5.8 billion in 2023, setting a new record, figures released Tuesday show.

That's up nearly 11% from a year earlier.

But the news was not as encouraging for Atlantic City's nine casinos, two-thirds of which are still winning less money from in-person gamblers than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The numbers released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show that the casinos, three horse tracks that have sports betting, and their online partners won $5.77 billion last year, surpassing the state's all-time high of $5.2 billion reached in 2006 and matched last year.

But only half that money came from the casinos' core business: money won on their physical premises. Money won from internet gambling and sports betting is shared with other parties including tech platforms and sports books, and is not solely for the casinos to keep.

For that reason, the casinos consider in-person winnings to be their core business.

And for six of the nine casinos, that business was not so great in 2023. Only three casinos — the Borgata, Hard Rock and Ocean — won more from in-person gamblers last year than they did in 2019, before the pandemic broke out. Collectively, the casinos surpassed 2019 levels with $2.8 billion won from in-person gamblers, but that was accomplished largely on the strength of the three newest casinos.

Still, for James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, there is plenty to be upbeat about in the latest figures.

He noted that in-person casino winnings were the