2017 proved to be a good year for gambling in New Jersey, particularly for its somewhat newer legal online gambling sector. According to a variety of sources, including a recently released white paper recapping the legal online gambling activities within New Jersey during the 2017 period. According to the paper, released by DGS Media via its online website NJOnlineGambling.com, the growth of legal online gambling in NJ within the 2017 period was unparalleled.

The paper goes into great detail and not only looks at the figures concluding the unprecedented growth in legal online gambling in the state but also at how NJ online casinos have gone about ensuring positive and consistent growth. What is even more exciting, is that the study looks at what online gamblers in New Jersey can look forward to in 2018 as well.

How NJ Legal Online Casinos Pushed Growth in 2017

As Mike Rowe, host of "Dirty Jobs" one of the most popular shows ever on Discovery Channel recently said at a recent graduation speech for graduating students at Prager University, something that is far more important (and useful) than following your passion, is taking advantage of opportunity as and when it comes up. Now, Rowe may have been referring to the potential careers that these graduates were contemplating, but he could have just as easily been talking about how operators within the NJ online casino industry have done just that.

Since it became legal for New Jersey online gambling, operators have had to work tirelessly to move users away from the temptations of illegal (black market) online casino gambling, which can be notoriously dangerous since it is largely unregulated, to the regulated and obviously much safer legal NJ online gambling option. This includes introducing online gamblers in New Jersey to better, more exciting and ultimately, more rewarding online casino gaming opportunities including the widest range of competitive online slots possible, the introduction of betting on Virtual Sports, the introduction of the exciting Slingo Scratchers opportunities, and of course, the introduction of live casino gaming and the increased availability of PayPal as a preferred choice for making safe and fast online casino deposits or withdrawals.

Of course, as one would expect for such a large scale endeavor, it certainly takes a lot more than positive thinking to get the numbers up to where they needed to be. Not only that, but to also exceed all expectations for the year and lay the groundwork for even more success in the following year. Dramatically increasing the number of available online slots terminals went a long way in bolstering the number of users that migrated from either playing exclusively at land-based venues, or those that had been dabbling in the slightly shadier side of the online gambling industry. It also helped quite a bit that popular land-based casinos like MGM and SugarHouse opened online casino options for New Jersey residents. For many of the older gamblers in NJ, the fact that it had become perfectly legal to play slots online in New Jersey sealed the deal. Incidentally, residents of Pennsylvania can now also look forward to legal online slots gaming, coming soon to that state as well.

Looking at the Numbers

While it's all well and good to say nice things about the higher than expected growth in legal NJ online casino gambling, what really brings it all home is a look at the numbers relating to that period. The numbers covered a lot of ground and including most of the top casino brands that are currently operating with the New Jersey state borders. This includes:

- Caesars - including 888, Harrah's and WSOP

- Borgata - including PlayMGM, PartyPoker, Scores and Pala

- Golden Nugget - including SugarHouse and Betfair

- Tropicana - including Virgin branded casinos

- Resorts - including PokerStars and Mohegan Sun

This is what the DGS Media white paper on NJ legal online casino gambling growth numbers revealed for 2017:

  • $245.6 million = Revenue totals that New Jersey online gambling sites generated in 2017, up 24.9% from the 2016 figures of $196.7 million.
  • 30.1% =Represents the percentage by which NJ online casino revenue grew year-on-year
  • $43 million =Total tax figures paid by state regulated iGaming sites paid in 2017.
  • $772.4 million = Gross gaming revenue generated by legal New Jersey online gambling since 2013.