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PlayNJ.com: New Jersey sportsbooks nearly hit $1 billion in December; set U.S. annual handle record
New Jersey fell just short in December of becoming the first state to accept $1 billion in sports bets in a single month, but still extended a streak of record-setting months while reaching a record $6 billion in wagers for the year. This while online casinos and poker set a new high, again helping to stem the millions in revenues losses by struggling Atlantic City casinos, according to PlayNJ, which offers news and analysis of the state’s gaming industry.
“A unique set of circumstances, most notably a once-a-century pandemic, sent online sports betting to these previously unfathomable highs,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayNJ.com. “The pandemic has had a diametrically opposite effect on New Jersey’s online and retail markets for both sports betting and casino games. But the growth of online betting was crucial in making up for at least some of the losses in revenue at Atlantic City casinos and certainly continue to steady the entire gaming industry.”
In December, New Jersey’s sportsbooks collected a record $996.3 million in wagers, according to official data released Wednesday. That surpassed the record $931 million bet in November, and marked the fifth straight month the state has set an all-jurisdiction record. Since August, sportsbooks have amassed $4.1 billion in bets.
December’s bets generated a record $66.4 million in revenue. Year-over-year, handle was up 78.6% from the $557.8 million bet in December 2019 and revenue was up 125.6% from $29.4 million in December 2019. December’s bets produced $8.3 million in state taxes.
For all of 2020, New Jersey’s retail and online sportsbooks produced:
- $6.02 billion in bets — a record for any legal jurisdiction despite major U.S. sports being shut down for four months —and up 31.3% from $4.6 billion in 2019.
- $5.5 billion in online wagering, up 44.2% from $3.8 billion in 2019.
- $398.5 million in operator revenue, up 33.1% from $299.3 million in 2019.
- $50.1 million in state taxes and $15 million in local taxes.
“Even when post-pandemic life returns to normal, online sports betting won’t likely give up its gains from this year,” said Eric Ramsey, analyst for PlayNJ.com. “The silver lining for the industry was that this year was an opportunity for online operators to focus heavily on their products and build their customer base, using a combination of technology improvements and aggressive promotions. That has matured the market far more quickly than was projected.”
Online betting generated 93.3%, or $929.3 million, of the state’s total handle in December, down from 93.6% in November. FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet topped online operators with $29 million in gross revenue, up from $21.2 million in November.
FanDuel was followed in revenue by:
- Resorts Digital/DraftKings/Fox Bet ($15.4 million, up from $14.6 million in November)
- BetMGM/Borgata ($6.3 million, up from $1.3 million)
- Monmouth/William Hill/Sugarhouse/TheScore ($3.3 million, up from $1.9 million)
- Ocean Casino/William Hill ($3.2 million, down from $3.6 million)
- Hard Rock/Bet365/Unibet ($562,188, up from $363,099)
- Caesars Sportsbook/888sport ($489,141, up from $247,615)
- Golden Nugget/BetAmerica ($343,849, up from $199,667)
- Tropicana/William Hill ($108,427, up from $105,028)
Retail sportsbooks generated $67 million in bets, down from $75.9 million in December 2019. Meadowlands/FanDuel topped retail books in December with $4.2 million in revenue. For the year, retail books generated $38.6 million in revenue, down from $54.9 million in 2019.
“The race for market share seems to be frozen in place,” Gouker said. “An expected launch of Penn National’s Barstool-branded sportsbook in 2021 could shake things up, but as of yet no operator has really eaten into the market share of FanDuel or DraftKings.”
Online casinos and poker just miss $100 million
New Jersey’s online casinos and poker rooms generated a record $99.5 million in revenue, up 101.6% from $49.3 million in December 2019 and shattering the previous record of $93.5 million. The month produced $14.9 million in state taxes.
December closed the books on a remarkable year in which online casinos tallied $970.3 million in revenue — a 101% gain over the $482.7 million in 2019 — and produced $145.7 million in state taxes. With revenue at retail casinos down $1.2 billion for the year compared with 2019, the dramatic rise in online gaming revenue was critical in offsetting some of the losses.
“It’s scary to think of where New Jersey’s gaming industry would be without online casino gaming,” Ramsey said. “Every dollar of revenue gained and tax dollar generated from online gaming proved desperately needed.”
Some other highlights from December’s report:
- Online casinos and poker generated $3.2 million a day over 31 days in December, up from $3.1 million a day over 30 days in November.
- Golden Nugget led online casinos with $29.4 million in December revenue, up from $26 million in November. But Borgata continued to eat into a market lead that once seemed insurmountable, hitting $27.2 million in December. Resorts Digital was third with $21 million.
- Revenue from online casinos was $96.4 million, up from $89.4 million in October. Online poker produced $3 million, up from $2.4 million in October.
For more information and analysis on regulated sports betting and online gaming in New Jersey, visit PlayNJ.com/news.
About the PlayUSA.com Network:
The PlayUSA.com Network is a leading source for news, analysis, and research related to the market for regulated online gaming in the United States. With a presence in over a dozen states, PlayUSA.com and its state-focused branches produce original daily reporting, publish in-depth research, and offer player advocacy tools related to the advancement of safe, licensed, and legal online gaming options for consumers. Based in Las Vegas, the PlayUSA Network is independently owned and operated, with no affiliations to any casino — commercial, tribal, online, or otherwise.
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ESET Research analyzes tools from the China-aligned TheWizards group, with targets across Asia and the Middle East
ESET researchers have analyzed Spellbinder, a lateral movement tool used to perform adversary-in-the-middle attacks by the China-aligned threat actor TheWizards. Spellbinder enables adversary-in-the-middle attacks through IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration spoofing, which allows the attackers to redirect the update protocols of legitimate Chinese software to malicious servers. Then the legitimate software is tricked into downloading and executing the malicious components that launch the backdoor WizardNet.
TheWizards has been constantly active since at least 2022 until the present and, according to ESET telemetry, targets individuals, gambling companies, and unknown entities in the Philippines, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, mainland China, and Hong Kong.
“We initially discovered and analyzed this tool in 2022, and observed a new version with a few changes that was deployed to compromised machines in 2023 and 2024,” says ESET researcher Facundo Muñoz, who analyzed Spellbinder and WizardNet. “Our research led us to discover a tool used by the attackers that is designed to perform adversary-in-the-middle attacks using IPv6 SLAAC spoofing to intercept and reply to packets in a network, allowing the attackers to redirect traffic and serve malicious updates to legitimate Chinese software,” explains Muñoz.
The final payload in the attack is a backdoor that we named WizardNet – a modular implant that connects to a remote controller to receive and execute .NET modules on the compromised machine. ESET researchers have focused on one of the latest cases, in 2024, in which the update of Tencent QQ software was hijacked. The malicious server that issues the update instructions is still active. This variant of WizardNet supports five commands, three of which allow it to execute .NET modules in memory, thus extending its functionality on the compromised system.
TheWizards and the Chinese company Dianke Network Security Technology (also known as UPSEC) – supplier of the DarkNights backdoor (also known as DarkNimbus), appear to be linked. According to NCSC UK, this malicious backdoor also has Tibetan and Uyghur communities among its primary targets. While TheWizards uses a different backdoor – the WizardNet, the hijacking server is configured to serve DarkNights to updating applications running on Android devices.
Neosurf, the progressive online payments company known for bridging the gap between cash and digital transactions and helping iGaming operators meet their AML and compliance requirements, has now launched in the regulated Mexican market.
With Mexico’s sports betting industry experiencing rapid growth and a strong player preference for alternative and cash-based payment solutions, Neosurf sees a significant opportunity to provide an enhanced range of market-tailored payment services to operators and players alike.
Neosurf’s cash-to-digital wallet solutions will enable Mexican players to fund their accounts securely while also giving operators access to robust compliance tools. With its pioneering Compliance Handshake feature, Neosurf provides an opportunity for seamless and secure KYC data sharing, improving the player journey and providing additional data and reporting for the operator
“In talking with operators, we’ve learnt that they’re not being serviced as well as they could be – there are gaps in customer support, compliance processes and overall payment efficiency,” explained Sue Page, CEO Americas at Neosurf.
“We believe our solution fills these gaps by offering a more reliable, secure and compliant way for players to transact, while also helping operators improve the all-round customer experience. We’re already live with first regional partners, such as Fun88, in the country and will quickly be adding more SEGOB licensed operators over the coming months.”
“With many Mexican players favouring cash, partnering with Neosurf allows us to offer a payment method that aligns with customer preferences while reinforcing our commitment to security and compliance,” added Christian Ramos, legal representative at Fun88 Mexico. “Their ability to provide frictionless transactions while enhancing AML and KYC processes makes them a key partner in the market.”
Neosurf’s launch in Mexico is just the beginning of its expansion into the regulated Latin American market, with the company already exploring further opportunities across the region. Through delivering its fast, secure and customer-centric payment solutions, Neosurf remains committed to reshaping the payments experience for players and operators, both within Mexico and beyond.
Strong start to 2025 affirms strategic approach and confidence of positive EBITDA in 2025
BetMGM LLC , one of the leading sports betting and iGaming operators across North America, jointly owned by Entain plc and MGM Resorts International, is providing an update on its 1Q 2025 performance.
- BetMGM’s strong momentum from 2H 2024 continued during 1Q 2025, driven by its leading iGaming offering and strengthened sports product, and refined approach to player management
- 1Q Net Revenue up +34% YoY with strong growth across both iGaming (+27%) and Online Sports (+68%)
- Positive 1Q EBITDA and underlying trends reaffirm confidence that FY 2025 will be EBITDA positive1
Adam Greenblatt, Chief Executive Officer of BetMGM, commented:
“2025 is off to an encouraging start for BetMGM as we execute our revised strategic plan. The momentum we built in the second half of 2024 continued into the first quarter as we implement our powerful iGaming strategy, enabling us to grow faster than the market and at scale. In Online Sports, we are elevating our brand and delivering improved performance, even in the face of unfavorable sports outcomes during key moments in the quarter. As we approach May, we remain confident in achieving full year positive EBITDA in 2025, supported by solid underlying activity trends and our successful delivery of positive EBITDA in the first quarter.”
1Q 2025 Key Financial Highlights
| 1Q 2025 BetMGM Financial Summary1,2,3 | |||
| Three months ended March 31 |
|||
| $ millions, unless otherwise noted | 2025 | 2024 | YoY Change |
| Net Revenue | |||
| iGaming | $443 | $348 | +27% |
| Online Sports | $194 | $116 | +68% |
| Handle | $4,088 | $3,174 | +29% |
| GGR Hold % | 8.2% | 8.7% | (50)bps |
| NGR Hold % | 4.8% | 3.6% | +110bps |
| Retail / Other | $20 | $26 | (22)% |
| Total Net Revenue | $657 | $489 | +34% |
| Contribution | $116 | ($38) | +$153 |
| EBITDA | $22 | ($132) | +$154 |
| Average Monthly Actives (thousands)4 | 1,067 | 1,009 | +6% |
Financial Highlights
- 1Q Net Revenue of $657 million, up +34% YoY, continuing acceleration with strong underlying player engagement metrics
- iGaming Net Revenue up +27% YoY driven by leading iGaming offering
- Online Sports Net Revenue up +68% YoY demonstrating strengthened product offering, expansion of NGR margin, and enhanced player engagement
- Handle up +29% YoY5
- NGR margin improvement of +110 bps YoY
- Average Monthly Actives up +6% YoY, reflecting significant growth in iGaming players, partially offset by improved OSB approach to player segmentation and management
- 1Q EBITDA of $22 million (up $154 million YoY), with iGaming Contribution of $133 million and positive Contribution from Online Sports
- 1Q EBITDA benefited from one-time accounting items offset by the impact of customer friendly sports results
- Continued stabilization of GGR market share in active markets with iGaming (22%) and Online Sports (8%), further cementing BetMGM’s podium position in the market6,7
- $150 million revolving credit facility remains undrawn
Operational highlights
- Market leading iGaming offering
- 1Q Average Monthly Actives up +43% reflecting our leading iGaming offering and focused marketing investment
- Active Player Days up +39% YoY driven by unique and exclusive content across both real-money and free-to-play engagement games8
- Improved cross-sell engagement with +13 ppt YoY increase in percent of Online Sports players playing iGaming9
- Strengthened Online Sports product coupled with focus on premium mass players and improved engagement
- Broader market range, improved pricing and enhanced parlay offering contributed to strong gains in player economics and activity metrics
- Growth of +4.8 ppt in parlay bet mix (inclusive of SGPs)10
- Bets per Active increased +28% YoY11
- Broader market range, improved pricing and enhanced parlay offering contributed to strong gains in player economics and activity metrics
- Refined approach to player retention with improved segmentation and promotional strategy
- Handle per Active up +37% YoY12
- Active Player Days up +20% YoY
Outlook
- BetMGM’s year-to-date performance provides increased confidence in exceeding guidance, however we remain mindful it is still relatively early in the year. As such, we reaffirm our expectations for FY 2025 to be EBITDA positive, and Net Revenue guidance of $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion
- Reiterated expectations of Online Sports to be Contribution positive for FY 2025
- Reaffirmed confidence in BetMGM’s pathway to $500 million EBITDA in the coming years
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