With the call to repeal the PASPA bill being spearheaded by New Jersey, the Garden State clearly had a plan in mind, and once PASPA was finally ousted, that plan came into full effect. Not only was sports betting made available, but so too was online gambling, from sportsbooks to online casinos. Despite the state’s size compared to others allowing online betting, New Jersey remains one of the biggest hitters in the country, reaping tax revenue for the state.
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Online gambling, otherwise known as “iGaming,” has proven to be a huge hit in New Jersey. This is even to the extent that its growth managed to offset the decline of land-based revenues in July 2024. The year-on-year growth experienced by the New Jersey market as a whole went up, from $506.2 million in July 2023 to $547.8 million in July 2024. It marks an 8.2 percent increase overall, but in land-based gaming, there was a decline.
Land-based gambling does remain the primary source of revenue for New Jersey gambling, but its returns did sink from $290 million to $272.3 million. Online, iGaming revenue grew by a whopping 25.9 percent to $195.4 million. The glut of that revenue came via slots and table games online. For the state, more money coming into iGaming over land-based casinos has its perks – primarily when it comes to taxes.
In the Garden State, land-based and online gambling companies are taxed differently. Given that the former offers employment within the state, the more relaxed tax rates make sense. Still, the gross gambling revenue made by the house on land is subject to a 9.25 percent gaming tax rate, per the AGA. Online platforms have to cough up nearly double that amount at 17.5 percent. So, more bets going online brings in more tax money for the state.
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Several states have now joined New Jersey as a home for iGaming and are, as a result, seeing the state coughers fill up from tax revenue. Still, it’s worth comparing what is essentially the oldest online gambling state with one of the youngest in North America.
Ontario may be in another country, but there are certainly comparisons to be drawn between the two offerings. For a start, the best online casino Canada has to offer boasts so many of the same games as the best sites in the Garden State. Euphoria, Ted Afterparty, Extra Chilli Megaways, UFC Gold Blitz Extreme, Sweet Bonanza, FlyX, and Gates of Olympus all stand among its most popular games.
The site and its many competitors in the province’s iGaming space made CA$1.26 billion ($916 million) in total gaming revenue. This figure translated to some CA$230 million ($167 million) of new revenue across the levels of Ontario’s government in the 2022/23 fiscal year. New Jersey’s 2023 revenue hit $1.92 billion.
Now, New Jersey’s population is about two-thirds of Ontario’s, but getting the market going earlier has certainly allowed the Garden State to outpace the province as it stands. Still, Ontario charges a roughly 20 percent tax rate. Should Ontario catch up and prove the higher tax isn’t a deterrent, maybe New Jersey will up its rates.
New Jersey seems to have struck the perfect balance of regulation and taxation, forging a buzzing iGaming market that continues to grow and return more tax revenues to the state. Down the line, though, it might see an opportunity to draw in more by following the example being tested by Ontario.
