New Jersey Regulator Reports Record Sports Betting Handle for July

The Garden State just had its busiest sports betting month in history. 

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has reported a sports betting handle of $816.9 million for the state, setting a record for July. Sportsbooks reported an average hold of 11.87% for the month, which was up from June’s 6.24%. This generated about $20 million in tax revenue for the state.

The bump was attributed to knockout stages of the 2026 World Cup.

Market Rises, But Caesars Falls

July’s numbers represent success for most of the New Jersey market, but not all operators saw growth.

Caesars Sportsbook was the only online sportsbook to report a decline year-over-year. It lost ground to Hard Rock Bet, which launched five years later. The decline is a troubling sign for the Las Vegas operator, which also owns retail operations in New Jersey. 

FanDuel led all operators with $94.5 million in revenue for July, finishing far ahead of rival DraftKings, which finished with $73.7 million. 

New Jersey Recovers From Tough June

New Jersey was one of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup, leading to expectations for a massive bump in revenue from online sports betting. However, June didn’t live up to those expectations.

Bettors won at a higher rate by betting on the favorites during June’s group stages. While there were some stunning upsets, it wasn’t enough to deliver much profit for the market. 

July featured the knockout rounds of the massive tournament and led to a much lower win rate for bettors. New Jersey also benefited from holding the World Cup Final, which led to a spike in betting ahead of the hotly anticipated match between Spain and Argentina.

2025 Tax Hike Paying Off

Late last year, New Jersey lawmakers passed A5803 to raise the tax rate for online sportsbook operators to 19.5%. This was up from 13%, bringing the Garden State closer to the national average.

The new tax rate went into effect on July 1, 2025. 

Last week, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reported $609.9 million in annual gross gaming revenue from sports betting through July 2026. While this represents an annual decrease of about 2.7%, the higher tax rate has the state on pace to easily surpass the $167.7 million in tax revenue generated in 2025.