Part 1: Data review
Table 1: New Jersey sports betting handle by sport ($m)
Month Football Basketball Baseball Parlay/other Parlay Other
Jun-18 0.3 - 10.2 - - 5.9
Jul-18 0.2 1.1 36.3 17.9 - Aug-18 5.8 4.3 84 51.9 - Sep-18 94.5 4.9 119 - 35.8 74.2
Oct-18 197.4 27.8 153.1 - 79.6 128.4
Nov-18 328.2 99.6 153.2 - 143.6 191.2
Dec-18 501 191.5 157.7 - 203 184
Jan-19 82.1 135.2 0 - 66.5 92.7
Source: NJDGE
and some are predicting it will prove
to be a hit with gamblers. Hopefully
over time New Jersey will look to
break out the figures for US domestic
soccer and the global game, as well
as tennis. That would help observers
more fully understand how the
market is performing.
NFL betting habits
Backend provider Kambi, which
powers the DraftKings, SugarHouse
and 888 sportsbooks, published its
insights into the betting behaviour
it had witnessed over the course of
the NFL season just past.
The data found, unsurprisingly,
that football was the major draw for
first-time punters, with 47% of first-
time bettors placing their bet on
NFL (see Chart 4).
This preponderance of NFL
bettors coming through the door
for the first time isn’t surprising
given the opening of the New Jersey
sportsbook market coincided with
Chart 4: Proportion of first US coupons featuring
each league (%)
the NFL season. But it does point
to the dominance of US major
leagues, with only 17% of first-time
sportsbook punters placing bets on
any other sport.
However, another way of looking
at that figure is that 17% actually
represents an impressive number
given what else is on offer. Further
data from Kambi on what is being
bet on within one hour of televised
NFL games coming to an end (Chart
5) provides further evidence for a
Chart 5: Distribution of in-game handle in the 60
minutes following NFL games (%)
50
17%
45
40
2%
35
6%
47%
30
25
20
14%
15
10
5
18%
0
NFL
Source: Kambi
8
MLB
NCAA
NBA
NHL
Other
47.8% 24.9% 12.5% 6.2% 3.9%
Soccer Tennis Basketball Baseball Golf
Source: Kambi
New Jersey: data and lessons from the first five years of the US’ leading digital market
2.5% 2%
Darts Ice Hockey