How many people that are sports betting online are also using the casino section of the mobile app? What are the cons to doing this?
My Atlantic City Roots: A Personal Dive into New Jersey’s Betting Evolution
Being someone that grew up in Atlantic City, NJ and having family members who have spent 30 plus years working in the Casino industry in Atlantic City, this topic is interesting to me for a few reasons.
Going back to the beginning of Atlantic City/gambling in New Jersey was 1978. At that time, it was Las Vegas, and Atlantic City. If you wanted to make a legal bet at a casino, you had to be standing in a casino property in one of those two cities. AC was the place to be for quite some time because of their “monopoly” for the entire east coast.
Fast Forward to around 2006 to 2010, when the states surrounding New Jersey made the switch and started building casinos of their own. Pennslyvannia, Delaware, New York, etc. Quickly before you knew it, it felt like there was a casino every 60 miles up and down the entire east coast.
So Why go to New Jersey?
No reason to go when gamblers can make a much easier drive when they needed to scratch their gambling itch so to speak. Then the legalazition of Sports betting in 2018 arrived. New Jersey leading the legalization charge.
Now, five years later, the entire industry and state of New Jersey has a big reliance on the online gaming revenue that is being generated.
The Evolution of Betting: From Physical Casinos to Digital Domination
From the NJ Gaming commisiion: “New Jersey’s casinos, racetracks that accept sports bets and their online partners won $462.7 million in April of 2023, an increase of 9.5% from a year earlier (April 2022).
That figure includes winnings from NJ online casinos and sports betting apps.
But the amount won on-premises by physical casinos fell by 1.6% to $231.4 million. Because revenue from online and sports betting operations must be shared with partners, the casinos view the amount of money won from on-premises gamblers as the leading indication of the health of the Atlantic City casino industry.
Internet gambling brought in nearly $159 million, up more than 16% from a year earlier in 2022, and sports betting brought in $72.3 million, up 43.6% from a year earlier in 2022. The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, just outside New York City, brought in more than half of that sports betting total.”
The point here is, to me it seems pretty obvious the importance of converting all of these sports bettors to online casino bettors as well, from the operator side of the fence. Which is absolutely the right play by them.
Treading the Line: Weighing the Pros and Cons of Online Casino Betting
So what are the pros and cons of using the casino sections of your sports betting app? Betting on sports, you feel like you have a certain level of control surrounding the wagers you decide to place. You can be a knowledgeable sports fan, who does their homework, knows a lot about a player and you decide to place a bet on Total Rebounds that player gets on a given night. Sure, its gambling, you have no idea what will wind up happening, even if you are the most knowledgable fan out there, you can lose your bets.
But the point there is, a certain amount of knowledge and homework can be done prior to making your bets. Casino on the other hand is much different. A con is relatively obvious but needs to be stated regardless. A sports bettor loses a handful of bets they placed on the NFL on Sunday, and decides to switch over to the Casino to try their luck on some spins on the slots….
Well a bad day betting on the NFL can quickly turn into a horrible week after switching to the casino side of things. The key to this discussion, as well as it being the key to gambling period, is DISCIPLINE. If you are able to have the discipline and you are able to stick to a financial plan when it comes to placing bets, then there are plenty of pros and opportunities with the casino sections of the mobile apps. As stated earlier in the article, these casinos and sports wagering companies are looking to convert users to the casino side of their online operation.
And with that, comes rewards. Casino play is always far more rewarding when it comes to future promos, bonuses, free play, and rewards club points/prizes etc.
So is the juice worth the squeeze? Make sure you do your homework. Look into what the promotions/rewards club offerings/ free play/ sports book offerings that are available to you on the app that you are using to make your sports bets.
If you have the discipline, the casino sections can be an asset to sports bettors in New Jersey, but tread lightly my friends! Best of luck on all of your bets.
