Atlantic City Casino Revenue Trails iGaming in January, State Industry Starts 2025 Strong

Posted on: February 17, 2025, 12:23h. 

Last updated on: February 17, 2025, 12:54h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Atlantic City casino revenue was up in January 2025
  • iGaming in New Jersey generated more revenue than the nine casinos
  • Oddsmakers reported a significant decline in bets

Atlantic City casino revenue lagged iGaming in January, but the first month of the year was mostly positive for New Jersey’s gambling market.

Atlantic City casino revenue iGaming New Jersey
Atlantic City casino revenue trailed the amount that iGaming platforms won in January 2025. Brick-and-mortar play continues to remain stagnant while gains continue online in New Jersey. (Image: Shutterstock)

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reports that the nine casinos down the shore combined to win $210 million last month. The brick-and-mortar play represented a 2.6% year-over-year improvement. An extra weekend day in January compared with January 2024 didn’t hurt.

James Plousis, chair of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said last month “was the second-best January result in 13 years.” Slot machines won about $145.4 million for the house, a 2% gain, while table game revenue climbed over 4% to $64.6 million.

iGaming stole the show though, as online casino slots, interactive table games, and poker rake totaled more than $221.6 million. That represented a 21% year-over-year surge and marks only the second time since New Jersey launched legal online casino gaming in late 2013 that internet sites outpaced brick-and-mortar.

New Jersey iGaming Rally

The nine Atlantic City casinos saw in-person play slow 1.1% last year to approximately $2.81 billion. iGaming, however, reported a 24% surge to $2.38 billion, with the regulated gaming platforms winning about $463.4 million more from remote players than they did in 2023.

The first month of 2025 signals that the trend might continue, with online gaming continuing to expand while brick-and-mortar stagnates. January, however, was a positive mark for the nine casinos with gross gaming revenue (GGR) climbing almost 3%, but with an extra weekend day, the increase loses a bit of its luster.  

Online casinos typically see slightly higher rates of play on the weekends too, though the difference between midweek and weekend isn’t nearly as contrasting as it is in the nine physical casinos. While in-person play in Atlantic City has leveled off or even slowed over the past 12 or so months, the iGaming sector continues to find 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 said in her January revenue remarks.

The casinos, of course, 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

Atlantic City casino revenue and iGaming posted year-over-year gains in January but it was a different story at the books. Oddsmakers kept roughly $122.2 million of the $1.15 billion in bets wagered, which represented a 28% decline from January 2024.

Oddsmakers reported a similar win, or hold rate. The online and in-person sportsbooks kept 10.3% of the bets last month, 0.2% higher than the 10.1% hold rate they experienced in January 2024. The total handle in January 2024 was more than $1.72 billion.

Atlantic City casino win, iGaming GGR, and sports betting revenue totaled $559 million. January’s GGR haul was 28% higher, or $463.8 million richer, than January 2024.